Research Catalogue

This public space project is taking place in my local community Sv. Filip i Jakov at the Dalmatian coast in Croatia. It is embedded in artistic research, conducted through the Masters of choreography programme COMMA at Codarts University of the Arts and Fontys Academy of the Arts. Following up my artistic research on the interrelation of space and the human inner world I am investigating what impact a surrounding, in particular the environment of the public space we live in, has on our thinking, feeling, acting, living and ways of being. The purpose of this project is raising awareness about the importance how we shape our common living spaces. In this practice-based research process I am using methods and tools from artistic and academic practices as reflective writing, observation, content analysis, site-specific movement explorations, choreographic tools, interdisciplinary framework, as well as informal methods like dwelling, experiencing and socializing. The outcome of this process is a multilayered context being transferred into an artistic concept. In an unexpected way the artistic creation turned out to be a tool for comprehending not only content and context, but substantially knowing and understanding myself. The results are disseminated as an exhibition with historic and artistic photographies, a site-specific performance, a social event with the local community in the public space of my home village and this written paper.

This exposition is documentation of practice elements and research procedures as part of my PhD: Alternative to What? Exploring Alternative Art Schools Through Spatiality, Participation and Performative Tools. The work presented is a form of immersive and deep mapping of the alternative art school and art pedagogies. For an optimal viewing experience, it is recommended to utilise the Chrome web browser.

This is an open-ended project or research process around extremely slow growth, and the contact between glass and biological material. It aims to implement a model of un-synchronisation, perhaps through the form of a modular installation. The “narrative” and linear scale of materials is reworked to transplant them into a spatial setting where individual nodes embody and reinterpret parts of these materials, creating a field of sonic or visual encounters.

This research explores how choreomania - the historical phenomenon of uncontrollable, communal dance “plagues” that emerged in the Middle Ages - can inform and shape my artistic practice. Central to this inquiry is the question: how does choreomania influence my creative process and the way I shape my performance practice as a classically trained pianist? The study unfolds three main blocks. First, an essay examines the conceptual formation of choreomania, its contemporary relevance, and its impact on my artistic work. Simultaneously, I observe and document the creative processes of artists-in-residence during my internship at the residency programme "Choreomania - Bodily Excess, Collective Unrest". The thrid block involves an experimental playground consisting of several performance try-outs, each rigorously documented, analysed, and reflected upon. Adopting a rhizomatic approach, I explore performance-making as a fluid, irregular process. The resulting performances weave together classical piano, improvisation, movement, voice, collaboration, live-electronics, audience engagement, and the submerged elements of choreomania. The research culminates in a synthesis and reflection of the entire process, offering new insights into performance-making.

At the turn of the nineteenth century, cellists were trained to provide chordal continuo realisation for recitativi in various parts of Europe. In other words, when they accompanied an upper voice, players would create a harmonically rich texture to better support the line above them, filling in chords rather than playing single bass notes. My research aims to trace the origins of this practice, examining pedagogical materials from the Neapolitan conservatories at the end of the 1600s. First, we investigate sections of the Montecassino Manuscript MS 2-D-13 (1699), analysing cases when Neapolitan-trained cellists needed to conjure up music beyond the written bass line. Selected works by prominent cello virtuosi and pedagogues of the time (Rocco Greco, Gaetano Francone, and Francesco Supriani) help us grasp how the violoncello gained the possibility of playing sophisticated improvised lines upon a bass and even (dare we say) partimenti. The second part of my research takes us forward in time to the second half of the eighteenth century. We discover how Salvatore Lanzetti and Antonio Guida continued the pedagogical traditions established by the preceding generations of Maestri, crafting methods that trained cellists to employ the rule of the octave in order to get comfortable with chordal improvisation. Ultimately, these explorations aim to suggest how the ground may have been fertilized for the growth of the aforementioned recitativo practices in the late 1700s, treating chordal continuo realisation as a result of a dynamic process across generations rather than an isolated phenomenon.

This exposition is part of the peer-reviewed article: Østern, T. P., Reppen, C., O’Connell, S., & Daneberg, M. (2025). Choreographer/researcher/teacher: Developing a/r/tography as an approach to dance pedagogy at Stockholm University of the Arts in a professional learning community of teachers. Nordic Journal of Art & Research, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.7577/ar.5460 This exposition explores my a/r/tographic design dive as course coordinator of the course "A/r/tography in theory and practice in higher education" (7.5 ects) at Stockholm University of the Arts. The decision to create and offer this course arose from a large collaborative change project at the former Department for Dance Pedagogy. The project led to a revision of the BA in Dance Pedagogy into an a/r/tographic study program, emphasizing the entangled roles of choreographer, researcher, and teacher. The course was developed to support professional development in a/r/tography for staff teaching across arts disciplines in higher education. As course coordinator, I dove into the course design a/r/tographically.