Performing Music Inspired by Visual Art: Interpreting G. Silvestrini’s Six Études pour Hautbois through the Impressionist paintings that inspired them
(2025)
author(s): Zoë Loxley Slump
published in: KC Research Portal
This research explores the intersection of music and visual art through the lens of Gilles Silvestrini’s Six Études pour Hautbois and the Impressionist paintings that inspired them. By critically analysing existing studies, interviews, and articles, this study identifies five key techniques composers and performers may use to translate visual elements into music. These approaches not only deepen the understanding of Silvestrini’s work but also offer performers a structured framework for interpretation.
This theoretical framework formed the starting point for experimentation and reflection both in the practice studio and with live audiences. This process challenges conventional classical performance practices by examining the balance between a composer’s intent and a performer’s interpretative autonomy. While Silvestrini does not explicitly prescribe a connection between the études and their corresponding paintings, this study argues that performers should embrace their own interpretative choices, enriching both the performance and the audience experience.
IMPRINT
(2025)
author(s): PP, TC, CAW, BC
published in: Research Catalogue
In once-uniform, traces of life emerge
a neighbourhood, built for order
now breathes individuality
over time, structure makes expression
a slow transformation shaped
not by plans, but by presence
tiles, shadows, colors
quiet gestures speak of daily routines
people who made this place their own
imprints, not imposed but lived
together, form the memory of space
a home grown into differencs
ÖR - AS ongoing loop
(2025)
author(s): Aðalheiður Sigursveinsdóttir
published in: Research Catalogue, Iceland University of the Arts
AS this is my final project about my final project at the University of the Arts in Iceland, it serves as a reflection on my own artistic process. AS I am completing my MA in Performing Arts, this moment signifies an ending, yet I feel I am still in the midst of processing it.
AS I set out to create a documentary play rooted in personal experience, aiming to bring realism to the stage. AS I allowed myself throughout the process to repeatedly ask: what am I truly confronting? AS I came to realize that, in the beginning, I was not being honest with myself. AS I tended to lean toward abstraction, to fix things, to escape into dreams rather than meet myself with clarity. AS I was not truthful to my own state of being.
AS a way to hold myself accountable, ÖR ultimately became a kind of encounter, with a meeting within a Program of Honesty. AS if ÖR blends inner and outer realities, flowing in a hybrid form of lived and performed experience.
AS are my initials, it echos in my writings. AS an ongoing loop.
Eastern Rebellion - with gamelan as inspiration for new musical expressions
(2025)
author(s): EAA
published in: Norwegian University of Science and Technology
This exposition contains the documentation of Espen Aalberg´s artistic research project “Eastern Rebellion - with gamelan as inspiration for new musical expressions"
"Eastern Rebellion - with gamelan as inspiration for new musical expressions" is focusing on a meeting point where Aalberg, as a musician and composer, has searched for inspiration in gamelan music, instruments, and concepts. Aalberg has a broad practice as a performer and composer/music creator with a professional career in both jazz and classical-contemporary direction. This experience, in collaboration with inspiration and instruments from gamelan, will be illuminated in different musical expressions and contexts.
Expanding horizons – Improvisational explorations of 20th-century classical music
(2025)
author(s): Peter Knudsen
published in: Norwegian University of Science and Technology
"Expanding horizons" is an Artistic research project carried out between 2021 (August) and 2024 (November) at NTNU, Trondheim. The objectives were to contribute to knowledge on how different kinds of departure points can be useful for musicians when approaching 20th-century Western classical music through improvisation, an understanding of how one can navigate and negotiate the musical language of this repertoire, and insights into how the tension between different performance values can be navigated in this process.
The research questions were: When applying improvisation to works of 20th-century classical music, 1. What role does the choice and preparation of musical representations play? 2. How can we navigate and negotiate musical structures such as melody, harmony and form? 3. How can we navigate the tension between fidelity to the work and creative expression?
Based on selected pieces from this repertoire and practical explorations together with participating musicians, various approaches to creating improvisational frameworks were then explored. These included a wide range of scores, including lead sheets and indeterminate notation, as well as ear-based methods. From the perspective of integrating improvisation into the performances, approaches such as repeating elements, working with layers, creating transitions, and introducing open sections were examined. A key point was to use melodic material as a way of building strong connections with the source material, rather than relying on harmonic representations of the music. In terms of balancing respect for the original work with creative freedom, a “healthy dose of disrespect” pervaded much of the explorations, allowing deviations from the originals when they were musically justified. Throughout the work processes, an idea of focal points emerged, as aspects to focus on when reworking a classical work into an improvisational version. These focal points included the score, historical and performative contexts, expressive qualities, and the improviser’s personal voice.
Playing Future Narratives
(2025)
author(s): Futuring Together
published in: Norwegian University of Science and Technology
By experimenting with the use of artificial intelligence and collaborative storytelling in public engagement with sustainability challenges, the Futuring Together group, through an interactive installation "Playing Future Narratives" at Artistic Research Week 2024 (22nd - 27th October 2024) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, explored how AI-enhanced collaborative narrative creation augmented with a visual essay could facilitate understanding of energy transition futures in Trondheim, Norway.
The installation utilized ScenSyn, a multiplayer interactive storytelling system combining AI-assisted narrative generation with human creativity, together with a visual essay highlighting the complexities and contradictions inherent in the energy transition.
The project provided an opportunity to test how AI-enhanced collaborative storytelling might offer unique opportunities for exploring complex societal transitions and raised important questions about the role of artificial intelligence in creative processes and public discourse.
