Research Catalogue

This is the landing page for Rhythmic Music Conservatory's portal on Research Catalogue.

Through Segments is a sound installation in an unusual interstitial space—the staircase of the Kunsthaus’ Iron House that connects to the “Friendly Alien”. Four artists listen into the storeys using real-time computer algorithms, taking an acoustical image of the visitors’ movements, forming four individual reactions. It is a poetic attempt to think about the distributed, the fragmented, the parallel. During the development phase, the artists work independently, but at the same time they observe and interrogate each other, performing the gesture of a “simultaneous arrival” (Sara Ahmed). They enact a human algorithm, informed by reiteration and duplication but never being identical. The aim is not one “of all converging towards the same, but circulating, making common relaying, relaying back, being relayed” (Isabelle Stengers).

Through a dialogue with an historical archive the project seeks to construct a fluid story of a confined landscape on the point of transformation. Through the negotiation of a multitude of images the project constructs a narrative that transcends the photographic vision as evidence, and questions whether vision can be more than comparable to the ground of an archaeological excavation. Through the use of the photographic essay as a method the intention is to try and interpret the changeability of the urban landscape.

This research explores the dialogue between the individual and natural phenomena through an artistic process that focuses on flow as a dynamic and generative element. The interaction between water, pigment and support-usually 50% or 100% cotton fibre paper-is configured as a field of visual investigation in which chance and physical forces play a decisive role. The work begins with the use of watercolour, the movement of which is influenced by both natural and industrial elements, such as stones or artificial structures, which alter the liquid's path and colour distribution. A fundamental aspect of the research is the investigation of the relationship between the flow of water and atmospheric events. The direct intervention of rain, wind and humidity introduces unpredictable variables that transform the painting process into an open and constantly evolving experience. The idea of flow is thus configured as an essential artistic element, capable of reflecting the changing nature of matter and time. From these experiments, the research extends to the study of gravity and its implications in the movement of pigment, drawing parallels with cosmological dynamics such as black holes and white holes. The action of the gravitational field and the tension between attraction and expulsion become visual metaphors that find expression in the creative process. In order to structure and document this investigation, notebooks, notes and parallel experiments are used, which are fundamental tools for outlining a method capable of reconciling individual technique with the randomness of external factors. The aim is to find a balance between control and unpredictability, developing a visual language that restores the interaction between artistic gesture and natural forces. In parallel, the project involves experimenting with materials other than paper, such as textiles, membranes and other porous or water-repellent surfaces. The introduction of these elements broadens the possibilities of interaction between water, pigment and support, generating new visual and tactile effects that amplify the dialogue between matter and physical phenomena. Set in an international context of artistic and scientific exploration, this research proposes an interdisciplinary reflection on the relationship between art, nature and physics, redefining the role of the artist as interpreter of the forces that govern our universe.

This thesis explores the link between colonialism, diaspora and displacement, analysing how these themes are addressed in contemporary art through the works of artists such as Belkis Ayón, Tania Bruguera, Coco Fusco, Binta Diaw and Dominique White. My research is developed around the concept of non-place (Marc Augé) and the space in-between (Homi Bhabha), understood as fluid territories in which identity is broken down and recomposed, suspended between memory and oblivion, between roots and transit. The analysis examines artistic practices that reinterpret the collective memory of diasporic communities, with a focus on processes of cultural and identity re-appropriation. Belkis Ayón's work reinterprets the Afro-Cuban mythology of the Abakuá as a metaphor for diaspora and marginality, while Tania Bruguera and Coco Fusco deconstruct the colonial gaze through performance and denunciation of power. Binta Diaw and Dominique White use the body, the sea and shipwreck as symbols of identity fragmentation and the construction of new spaces of belonging. The thesis integrates references to Paul Gilroy, Aníbal Quijano, Frantz Fanon and Enrique Dussel, highlighting how art can function as an archive of memories and an instrument of political resistance. Parallel to the theoretical research, my artistic project proposes a series of installations that evoke the non-place of dislocation, a space of transition and rewriting, where matter - sound, sculpture, performance - become bearers of forgotten histories and new possibilities of belonging.

Editorial: Sounding the Contradictions in and of the (Post-)Soviet Realm