Research Catalogue

How can dance and music, an art rich of history and a recent practice, the living body and digital immateriality communicate with each other? This project explores these questions through a live electronics performance in interaction with Odissi dance, one of the eight classical Indian dance forms. The performance combines fixed and improvised elements, fostering a dynamic interplay where music sometimes leads the dance and at other times responds to it. The work mirrors the traditional Odissi performance arc while reinterpreting it through a contemporary Western compositional lens. The sound material is created using SuperCollider, a code-based music synthesis platform. Algorithmic processes govern parameters such as duration, pitch, and amplitude, while real-time interventions are performed via a MIDI controller, enabling a fluid and reactive sonic environment. Several collaborative experiments inform the project’s development. Conducted both remotely and in-person, they involved exchanging musical sketches and choreographic responses, fostering a conceptual understanding of each other's creative processes, and enabled immediate feedback and improvisatory interaction, revealing how abstract sound gestures are interpreted by the dancer as vivid metaphors of natural phenomena through the expressive language of mudra. This project embraces the idea that meaning in performance does not pre-exist but rather emerges through the interweaving of gesture, sound, attention, and relational space. Rather than seeking fixed correspondences between music and dance, the collaboration foregrounds the instability and fluidity of sense-making as a shared experiential process. Movement and sound co-construct each other in the moment, guided by intuition, somatic listening, and a continuous negotiation of presence. In this light, the work becomes less about illustrating pre-defined narratives and more about cultivating a living texture of interaction—an evolving field where different temporalities, traditions, and sensitivities resonate and transform one another. Informed by Andrée Grau’s insights in Intercultural Research in the Performing Arts (1992), this project also approaches collaboration not as a neutral meeting ground but as a space charged with cultural histories and asymmetries of knowledge. Grau urges us to move beyond celebratory notions of “fusion” and to critically examine how traditions are represented, adapted, and negotiated in performance. In this light, the work does not seek to erase difference but to hold it in tension, encouraging a space where both artists remain grounded in their respective practices while allowing mutual transformation to occur. Rather than simplifying or assimilating Odissi into a Western framework, the collaboration is framed as an encounter—sometimes smooth, sometimes resistant—that reflects the complex, evolving nature of intercultural exchange. Here, meaning is not given but co-constructed through attention, respect, and a willingness to remain in the discomfort of not fully understanding. Bibliography Grau, A. (1992). Intercultural research in the performing arts: A critical review. Edinburgh University Press. Jayadeva. Gītagovinda. Tr. Giuliano Boccali (1982). Adelphi. Cassio, F. (2000). Percorsi della voce. Storia e tecniche esecutive del canto dhrupad nella musica classica dell'India del nord. Ut Orpheus Edizioni. Frödin, K. Unander-Scharin, Å. (2024). FRAGMENTE2. Research Catalogue. https://www.researchcatalogue.net/profile/show-exposition?exposition=2045845 Frisk, H. (2025). Sound intuition. Research Catalogue. https://www.researchcatalogue.net/profile/show-exposition?exposition=3025541 Giordano, S. The emerging sense. Research Catalogue. https://www.researchcatalogue.net/profile/show-exposition?exposition=1220694

Documentación sobre la investigación artística de ConCuerpos en el 2023 en torno a la Accesibilidad Universal en Danza, llamada Cancionero para la Ausencia.

Die Idee des Projekts war es, mit den Gegebenheiten vor Ort zu arbeiten und diesen als Inspirationsquelle sowohl inhaltlich als auch materiell zu nutzen. Was die Materialauswahl &-organisation betrifft nutzten wir Gebrauchtes aus lokalen Quellen und integrierten die Geschichten in Bezug auf die vorherige Nutzung der Materialien in das Stück. Neben den Darsteller*innen, die aus der Näheren Umgebung stammten, bekamen auch die Materialien eine „Stimme“. Ein wesentlicher inhaltlicher & materieller Bestandteil der Inszenierung war Erde, die als nicht-menschliche Akteur*in auf der Bühne behandelt wurde. Den Dialog zwischen Mensch und Hummus haben wir verfolgt, indem im Probenprozess Bewegungs-Material durch die Interaktion mit der Erde entwickelt wurde. Die dabei entstandenen Fragen müssen zukünftig sowohl vor als auch hinter der Bühne verhandelt werden: Wie können wir für unsere Umgebung Sorge tragen? Wie können wir neue Rituale in alten und vertrauten, gesellschaftlich konstruierten Lebensrealitäten finden, die für zukunftsfähiges Denken und Handeln nützlich sind? Franziska Wenning, Anja Gast, Rémy Bocquillon

Andy Birtwistle’s introduction to this special issue addresses the question "what is sonic materiality?" by examining how both "new" and "old" materialisms offer productive frameworks for conceptualizing sound's material dimensions. Drawing on work by Cox, Voegelin, and Cobussen, alongside critiques from Goh, Thompson, and Campbell, the article proposes understanding sound's materiality through texture, temporal flow, and spatiality. By engaging with Structural/Materialist film theory and creative sonic practices, Birtwistle discusses how materiality intersects with aesthetics, agency, and ethics in sound. The introduction argues that exploring sonic materiality opens new avenues for understanding sound across environmental soundscapes, artistic practices, and cultural contexts.

Is the reality perceived by someone with dementia less real than our own? Can photography give authority to this alternate reality? This research, sparked by my newfound relationship with my dementia-affected grandfather Raymond, investigates the family album - often perceived as an unquestionable document - in order to uncover its ambiguities and to question photography in itself as the most trustful record of reality. The inaccuracy of a medium that aims for objectiveness and is perceived as the bearer of truth, leads me to focus on three different ways of approaching the family archive (collection, editing and manipulation) and the relationship between mortality and memory. By using a mix of photography and photogrammetry, Ray's distorted memories - as he recounted them during his illness - became new images in order to materialise his present parallel truth. Alongside this dreamlike everyday, what has survived of Ray's past is contained in a briefcase: 254 photographs that have been transformed into postcards, travelling keepsakes, ready to be sent. If photography is in itself unreliable, why should the reality of a person who has lost his memory be any less real than our own?

This project aims to explore the ability of playing by ear in order to design a creative and stimulating teaching approach for the development of the skill in piano lessons. The goal is to devise effective strategies for piano instructors, offering guidance on how to effectively advance the abilities of their students. Consistent with Woody’s ideas, playing by ear has been described by educators as a relevant developmental prerequisite to becoming a truly fluent music reader. Nevertheless, making sounds by ear is often just the initial and playful approach to music, and its significance diminishes considerably in education as the skill level increases. In fact, one must not forget the crucial role of the skill, that is the direct connection between music and player (without any interference like the score).