Research Catalogue

A B S T R A C T This artistic research examines how the third space emerging from intercultural dialogue and transcultural collaboration can be a catalyst for new musical discoveries, intercultural humility and the (re)forming of artistic identities. The body of this project is centred around three doctoral concerts, a CD/LP recording, and a documentary film, which took place between 2016 and 2021. In addition, I draw on the embodied experience of a five-year period I spent living and collaborating with musicians and dancers in Tanzania and Zambia prior to the doctoral project. As a double bass player and composer, I place myself in a series of different musical and multi-arts contexts, engaging in dialogue with musicians, dancers and visual artists from Brazil, Colombia, Estonia, Finland, France, Madagascar, Poland, Sápmi, Tanzania, the UK and Zambia. Various solo, duo and ensemble settings act as case studies to examine how this process takes place, the artistic outcomes, and the effects of intercultural dialogue, collaboration and co-creation on my own artistic identity. The instruments and forms of artistic expression used by my collaborators include the Brazilian berimbau, Chinese guzheng, dance, live electronics, experimental instrument making, Finnish Saarijärvi kantele, Sámi joik, vocals, percussion, live visuals, image manipulation, animation and film. In these artistic explorations, I draw on new knowledge gained from the collaborations, as well as from my five-year period of intercultural immersion in Tanzania and Zambia. As key concepts in this research, I investigate artistic identity, hybridity, intercultural collaboration, co-creation, third space theory and resonance, the latter being viewed both as a physical phenomenon and an approach to thinking about the ways in which we connect with the world around us. This research contributes to new knowledge and understandings in these areas through the interweaving of artistic processes, audio, video, photographs, artistic outcomes and text. Findings emerge in terms of new musical discoveries found in the dynamic third space surfacing from transcultural collaboration; the interconnected nature of my work and its reliance on meaningful dialogue and exchange with others; and the crucial role of resonance in forming a personal artistic identity. Further research outcomes include new techniques and the expansion of the sonic palette of the double bass, enabled by developing custom-made attachments, preparations and electronic manipulation. The complete scope of this doctoral project includes four artistic components, a documentary film and an artistic research thesis comprising two peer-reviewed articles and an integrative chapter, all housed within the main multi-media exposition, Resonance: (Re)forming an Artistic Identity through Intercultural Dialogue and Collaboration. Key words: artistic identity, intercultural humility, hybridity, intercultural collaboration, transcultural, third space, third space bass, resonance.

This project aims to implement a model of un-synchronisation through the form of a modular installation. It is an attempt to hybridise the formats of electroacoustic composition, computer art, and installation art, practices I have always been pursuing, but often without mixing them. The “narrative” and linear scale of the electroacoustic materials is reworked to transplant them into a spatial setting where individual nodes embody and reinterpret parts of these materials, creating a walkable field of sonic encounters. The source materials stem from my ongoing project Shouldhalde (2018–), a writing process for electroacoustic “pieces” that will not take a fixed media form, but remain an elastic repository, while being structurally complex and carefully composed. As of this writing, around seventy minutes of arranged materials exists that oscillate between synthetic and recorded sound qualities (often indistinguishable). In the process of Kontakt…, they will be reconditioned to parametric and layered objects susceptible to algorithmic control and in the installation.

Presentation for the cancelled conference "Crisis Collective". Created as an exposition by Jonas Sjøvaag, Author name is listed in the title.

Presentation for the cancelled conference "Crisis Collective". Created as an exposition by Jonas Sjøvaag, Author name is listed in the title.

This translated audio piece is a sonic exploration of the everyday life of an elderly woman called Alice. Alice lives in a suburb of Copenhagen. Based on the ways in which she inhabits her home a sonic cartography is unfolding, revealing a close connection between the acoustic environment and her bodily decline.

Presentation for the cancelled conference "Crisis Collective". Created as an exposition by Jonas Sjøvaag, Author name is listed in the title.