I HAVE THE MOON: aesthetics of contemporary classical music from a composer-performer band retreat.
(2024)
author(s): Samuel Penderbayne
published in: Research Catalogue
The artistic research project I HAVE THE MOON was an experimental group activity or 'band retreat' for five composer-performers resulting in a public performance in the aDevantgarde Festival, 2019, in Munich. Research was conducted around a central research question stated verbally at the outset of the project: how can aesthetic innovations of contemporary classical music be made accessible to audiences without specialist education or background via communicative techniques of other music genres? After a substantial verbal discussion and sessions of musical jamming, each member created an artistic response to the research question, in the form of a composition or comprovisation, which the group then premiered in the aDevantgarde Festival. The results of the discussion, artistic works and final performance (by means of a video documentation) were then analysed by the project leader and presented in this article. The artistic research position is defined a priori through the research question, during the artistic process in the form of note-taking and multimedial documentation, and a posteriori through a (novel) 'Workflow-Tool-Application Analysis' (WTAA). Together, a method of 'lingocentric intellectual scaffolding' on the emobided knowledge inside the creative process is proposed. Insofar as this embodied knowledge can be seen as a 'field' to be researched, the methodology is built on collaborative autoethnography, 'auto-', since the project leader took part in the artistic process, guiding it from within.
Accessibility of Music Production Software for the Visually Impaired: A study of developing an eyes-free audio application for a surface haptic interface
(2021)
author(s): Jakub Pesek
published in: KC Research Portal
In the past three decades, the process of music-making moved away from operating analogue devices to using the software running inside of computers. While these advancements provide significant advantages, visually impaired people cannot fully benefit from this progress because some of the software tools are not accessible to them. The aim of this thesis is to explore the accessibility of music production tools for the visually impaired and propose an accessible eyes-free audio equalizer application controlled by a surface haptics interface.
To determine the level of accessibility of music production software, this thesis reviews industry practices and research concerning assistive technology in music production by analysing the most popular digital audio workstations' accessibility features. Further, online interviews with visually impaired music producers are conducted to find out about the way they work and their experience with using the software.
Finally, an equalizer with a visual display of the EQ curve for a surface haptic interface is designed and developed to explore a new human-computer interaction method that makes it possible to operate audio plugins eyes-free. Due to haptics feedback, the user can control the application in a non-visual way. To validate the application design and potential for improving the accessibility of music production tools, two tests with participants are conducted. The results show that it is possible to control audio equalizer only with haptic feedback. However, more development is needed to improve the user workflow.
A new language for cities
(last edited: 2020)
author(s): Emma Harriet Austin Creed
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
A new language for cities is an exploration into how Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and New Media (XR) can help to make art more inclusive through re-introducing it into everyday life, allowing audiences to consider the environment around them in new, playful, immersive and interactive ways.
Cities are living organisms in the sense that no matter our intentions when working with architecture and urban planning, we cannot guarantee how a certain space or environment will be used. The purpose and use of a space is dependent on the people who inhabit it, not those that create it. As such, each corner of a city has a story to tell. The daily interactions of the people who live and work there leave a mark that creates an intimate narrative around what it means to live a life.
As an artist I am interested in exploring both what has alienated people to different forms of art and also encouraged them to engage with it. I believe that XR has the possibility to play with the reality of how people will interact with a city, exploring historical and current narratives to reconnect alienated audiences with art by literally bringing it to them.