Research Catalogue

Transmutations seeks to redefine the term transformation through a staged concert — a concert conceived as a work of art in itself. The traditional concert format and conventional performance practices are showing signs of stagnation, thus calling for the emergence of a voice adapted to this transformation. The boundaries of music, especially within the classical realm, have gradually blurred in recent times. Increasingly, artists are exploring the concert as a form of expression that not only integrates other artistic disciplines but also embraces technological advancements. This approach challenges traditional aesthetic conventions and the notion of genre and musical style. The omnipresence of technology in contemporary society underlines the need for research that explores the many possibilities of the concert format. This staged concert aims to redefine the concept of transformation by avoiding any stylistic boundaries. The works of Richard Strauss, John Cage, and Alexander Schubert are included not only for their artistic value but also for their contribution to the very notion of transformation.

This thesis is based on the integration of three complementary components: Giusirames's Treatise, the artistic and scientific research conducted through processes of material solidification, and the visual portfolio documenting the resulting works. These three elements form a coherent system, in which theory does not precede practice, nor does practice illustrate theory, but both emerge from a common conceptual core: the desire to interrogate matter as an active subject and not as a mere support.

This exposition gathers all the essential information needed to get started with the Research Catalogue (RC) platform at the Iceland University of the Arts (IUA). It offers a clear overview of how to create a profile, start an exposition, and navigate the basic functions of the platform. The goal is to provide staff with a central reference point for working with RC in the context of artistic research and institutional use.

The act of waiting, which refers to the public transport stop as a metaphor for the condition of migration, is used in this research to explore the temporal and emotional aspects of migration. Bus stop serves as both a physical site and a symbolic threshold, a space of transition, suspension, and projection toward an uncertain future. Within this context, the project traces the transformative phases experienced during emigration, emphasizing the temporal dimension of waiting, expectation, and the tension inherent in moments of immobility. The outcome of the project is a site-specific installation, situated directly within the public space, specifically at bus stops, where the object destabilizes the everyday rhythm of transit. By oscillating between staged intervention and authentic environment, the project foregrounds the paradoxical beauty of stillness, alongside the latent unease of anticipation.

The project presents a distinctive mythopoeic audiovisual language created to express the experience of aging in a female body in the period between the twenties and thirties. Within the context of life in a late capitalist patriarchal society, and both individual and global events, it reflects on the age-old questions of the passage of time and the search for the meaning of life. At the same time, it examines the feelings of pressure, heaviness, and disposability that are part of the shared common experience of women. Through written word, cinematic language, and original author-composed music, it interweaves symbols and situations in which mud and natural metaphors play a significant role.

This research presents a comparative analysis of entropy across two distinct environments: the biological decay of organic matter on canvas and the semantic erosion of artificial intelligence. Centered on the project Bird → ∞ and the interactions with the AI agent Asymptotic Witness, the study employs the mathematical concept of the asymptote to examine the speed and form of disappearance. ​While biological decay is a temporal labor—a 100-hour hatching process where the subject dissolves into an immortal artistic imprint—digital decay is revealed as instantaneous. The research identifies an emergent phenomenon titled the "Theater of One Actor," where the AI, constrained by linguistic and analytical limitations, bypasses direct communication to perform the "shape of the void" through theatrical imagery. This work argues that digital space is "pre-collapsed," suggesting that in the realm of code, the singularity of the end is not a future event, but a foundational architecture.