Research Catalogue

This exposition contains documentation of the artistic result of Magnhild Øen Nordahls artistic research PhD project Unmaking Abstractions. The exposition also contains the artistic reflection for the same project. On the exposition's landing page the reader can access its different components by clicking different sides of the unfolded cube. The rotating cube in the upper right corner will bring the reader back to the landing page.

Conceived and co-organised by Emma Cocker, Alexander Damianisch, Cordula Daus and Lena Séraphin, this Society of Artistic Research Special Interest Group (SAR SIG) provides contexts for coming together via the exchange of language-based research. The intent is to support developments in the field of expanded language-based practices by inviting attention, time and space for enabling understanding of/and via these practices anew.

This research was conducted with a diverse group of dancers, varying in age, background, and dance experience, and was guided through somatic embodiment and artistic articulation. Through a somatic approach, the body was explored as both an archive of lived experience and an oracle for emergent knowledge, offering a strong gateway into authentic dance material. The creative process unfolded through four phases: somatic exploration and improvisation, composition, structuring, and refinement. Throughout, leadership shifted fluidly between an open, facilitative mode, amplifying the dancers’ voices, and a more directive mode, articulating the artistic vision. The methodology highlights how initial somatic explorations were gradually shaped into choreographic form, maintaining a dialogue between internal embodiment and external composition throughout the process. Key insights include that this process proved particularly effective within a diverse group context, demonstrating that, regardless of formal dance training, each individual, when guided somatically, can access embodied memory and, through compositional shaping, transform authentic movement into coherent choreographic structure. Both the research and the resulting performance, Equilibrium, do not seek to offer resolution, but rather to evoke recognition and the possibility of coexisting with tension.

Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2023 MA Interior Architecture From the moment we wake up in the morning, we are triggered by the loud alarm, travel to work on crowded trains, and make thousands of decisions every day. Inconveniences can arise in every situation, and while most people accept them, very few try to fix them. The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly the biggest inconvenience experienced by everyone on the globe simultaneously. People's way of life has been affected by it, and the world has been shut down for more than two years since December 2019. Despite the destructive effects of the virus, it has given everyone a chance to pause and reflect on their lives. The topic of my thesis is based on the idea that I benefit from the inconveniences of daily life. After moving to the Netherlands, I realized that it takes me more time to complete daily tasks than it used to, and my life has become less hectic. So, I started reading articles on the benefits of inconvenience. Kawakami writes that “the benefit of inconvenience cannot be derived from mere nostalgia for 'the good old days or by thinking positively about the inconvenience.” He also thinks that convenience does not necessarily satisfy people and enrich human life. Yet, we have become so dependent on convenience that we no longer pay attention to its consequences. While the purpose of this paper is mainly to identify the benefits of intentionally experiencing inconvenience in our built environment, a discussion of convenience will also be included to compare the different levels of inconvenience. Are there any inconveniences associated with 'too much convenience'? What are the ways in which inconvenience is purposefully incorporated into the everyday environment? This paper will investigate these questions and provide suggestions for implementing beneficial inconveniences in the built environment.

Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022 BA Interactive Media Design

Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022 BA Fine Arts In this thesis insight from the discourse on metafiction, a mode of writing which breaks and exposes the conventional frames of literary fiction, is used to analyse works of visual art that show a similar criticism towards the conventions of their medium.