Research Catalogue

This research explores the phenomenon of Cosplay as experienced by Cosplayers themselves through a subjective lens. A project that stems from specific personal attitudes and inclinations to the practice of Cosplay — コスプレ kosupure — in relation to japanese entertainment media. The focus of the analysis resides in individuals influenced to the point of bordering on obsession, surrounded by characters from works of Japanese animation, illustration and graphics — Anime, Manga and RPG — culminating in the practice of donating one’s body through the practice of interpretation, assimilation and appropriation. Consistencies and idiosyncrasies between assumptions and experience are addressed starting from Japanese imagery, cultivated by years of tactile and vivid experience of this practice as carried out in Italy. The impact and perceived impact of the journey facilitated a firsthand, lived experience through my month-long stay in Toshima, one of Tokyo’s twenty three special districts. The reiteration of this practice in the country accredited for the birth and export of Cosplay, put to test the skills and preconceptions developed over years of experience and virtual exploration. Analyzed the ideological presuppositions set forth by Luca Vanzella in Cosplay culture: fenomenologia dei costume players italiani, found within my personal experience in Italy, the same were used as a key to reading and interpreting the experience in Japan, analyzing points of contact and divergence. Through this paper I wish to document the vivid aspects of a research at a still embryonic state, without rushing to judgment. A vision that is not intended to be faithful to reality as a focused image, but rather as the perception of light imprinted in the first impact with the retina. It represents, in its essence, an investigation that reports testimonies and subjective experiences, exploring with individuals the value placed on their choice of character, the reasons for choosing to lend one’s body to such practice. The unambiguous presence of the self, versus, the assumptions of loss of identity and desire for escape in the link between Cosplayer, performance act and self-perception. Analyzing the relational dynamics between Cosplayers and those shared personas, with a focus on the figure of the otaku and the way it relates to this practice. This printed object consists of 2 main parts; the first visual and graphic and the second textual and theoretical. Bound together by the “japanese stab binding” technique, that has been appropriated in correlation to the practice of Cosplay. Becoming not only a physical link, but also a key conceptual and graphic element. Giving body and matter to the characters that make up the term Cosplay.

This thesis investigates how narrative agency can emerge collaboratively between human, technological, and more-than-human agents within artistic re- search. In response to the limitations of anthropocentric storytelling, it poses the central question: How does narrative agency emerge in co-creative processes involving human, technological, and more-than-human forces? The research adopts an experimental, site-specific methodology grounded in transduction-the translation of one form of data or energy into another-to enga- ge with the expressive capacities of more-than-human entities. Three iterations form the core of the investigation: a photogrammetric and sonic exploration of De Nieuwe Passage (The Hague), a real-time collaboration with storm Conall in a city forest, and a durational transduction of Tokyo's soundscape into photo- graphic form. In each case, technologies such as cameras, code, and sensors are treated not as neutral tools, but as hybrid agents participating in narrative formation. The results demonstrate that narrative meaning can emerge through intra-active, multisensory processes rather than through fixed representation. Each experi- ment reveals how environmental and technological agents shape the unfolding of story, whether through the rhythm of human flows, the shifting forces of weather, or the temporal layers of urban sound. This thesis concludes that artistic research can facilitate non-anthropocentric storytelling by creating conditions for narrative to arise through entangled rela- tions. It recommends a methodological shift toward collaborative, sensory-ba- sed practices that decenter the human artist and embrace the co-authorship of technological and environmental systems.

PERFORMING PROCESS is a research group within the Artistic Research Centre at Nottingham Trent University, co-led by Emma Cocker and Danica Maier, both Associate Professors in Fine Art. We ask: what is at stake in focusing on the process of practice — the embodied, experiential, relational and material dimensions of artistic making, thinking and knowing. What is the critical role of uncertainty, disorientation, not knowing and open-ended activity within artistic research? How might a process-focused exploration intervene in and offer new perspectives on artistic practice and research, perhaps even on the uncertain conditions of contemporary life? PERFORMING PROCESS has origins in a number of critical precedents: Summer and Winter Lodges originating within the fine art area (practice-research residencies or laboratories dedicated to providing space-time for making-thinking and for exploring the process of practice), collaborative artistic research projects such as No Telos, for exploring the critical role of uncertainty, disorientation, not knowing and open-ended activity; the DREAM seminar series with PhD researchers which focuses specifically on the ‘how-ness’ of practice research by asking - How do we do what we do?

This chapter will detail the evolution of a set of improvised performances that explored Empathic Speculation in both live and studio settings. As a means to elevate musical attunement in live performance based on an atmosphere of musical trust that ‘allows for creative risk-taking, which can result in the production of spontaneous musical utterances’ (Seddon, 2005: 58), Empathic Speculation (Bain, 2021) describes a further level of interaction that attempts to encourage another member of the ensemble beyond their perceived musical boundaries; or ‘comfort zones’.

When starting a composition, waiting for the fabled “inspiration to hit” can be unreliable at best and frustrating at worst. To investigate this issue, I look at how experts in other art disciplines approach the practice of creativity, specifically when beginning a new project, which, in composition, equates to starting a new piece. This paper explores how encounters with six creativity exercises originating from the disciplines of writing, choreography, and visual art can result in new possible approaches to jazz composition. The approaches explored include a Daily Method from author Julia Cameron, an Animal Method from poet Ted Hughes, a Haiku Method from authors Linda Anderson and Derek Neale, an Improvisational Method from choreographer Twyla Tharp, a Habit Method from choreographer Jonathan Burrows, and a Modeling Method from visual artist Austin Kleon. Throughout my research, I tested these six methods in my compositional practice and recorded the musical outcomes. I then shared three methods with musical colleagues to try before collecting their thoughts. In each method, I will recount my writing process using the method, my journal entries, and my overall thoughts. In the animal, haiku, and improvisation methods, I will also compare this to the experience of my colleagues. Each section will conclude with a musical work created from the method and my own evaluation of the resulting composition. The research demonstrates viable conceptual strategies for approaching jazz composition derived from other art disciplines and suggests that creative practice can be both accessible and sustainable over the long term.

The project comprises text, location photos, photos of artworks, and video animations that record the experiences of a natural flood that affected house and studio. The project’s content is a consideration of the consequences of the flood towards an existing project in progress at the time and on existing finished artwork. The finished exposition had two unsuccessful reviews; the first due to insufficiently proposing a workable consideration of failure, the second for insufficient clarity of purpose. As this self-published iteration, screenshots taken from the original iteration as formatted on the RC are overlaid with short summaries of aspects of the project’s content, in terms pertaining to both the staining of the flood water and the often unacknowledged writing, re-writing, and over-writing of whatever is the language basis of one's practice. The screenshots, as simulated text-and-image cameos, have the summaries ranged next to them as legible text. The original submitted project is archived though accessible as a PDF only, along with its supplementary papers and video clips.