Empathic Speculation and the Comfort Zone
(2025)
author(s): Andrew Bain
published in: ARJAZZ - Journal for Artistic Research in Jazz
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’.
Listening like White Nationalists at a Civil Rights Rally
(2017)
author(s): Bryce Peake
published in: Journal of Sonic Studies
This soundscape and accompanying essay explore the listened-to world of white nationalists protesting a 2015 civil rights rally in the United States. Marked by countless instances of police brutality and a racially motivated mass shooting, the autumn months of 2015 echoed with the rallying cries of Black Lives Matter… cries that stoked white nationalists’ nascent conspiracy theories about white genocide and an impending “race war” between black Islam and white Christendom. Both the new Civil Rights movement and these white nationalist fears came to a head at the Justice or Else Rally in October 2015. This essay explores the acoustemological – acoustic and epistemological – world of white nationalists protesting Justice or Else, using the nexus of creativity and empiricism to understand a white nationalist standpoint acoustemology proliferating in Donald Trump’s United States.
Ohni Ziül, kei Versager: Objects, Goals and Failure, a Swiss residency
(last edited: 2024)
author(s): Rose Magee
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
Ohni Ziül, kei Versager: Objects, Goals, and Failure explores the creative potential of failure and material agency through a four-month artist residency at Altes Spital, Solothurn, Switzerland. Initiated by the unexpected breaking of hand-blown glass objects during transit, the project reframes failure as a catalyst for empathy, interconnectedness, and transformation.
Set in a former hospital, the residency provided a fitting context for investigating the relationships between humans and objects. By engaging with glass and beeswax, materials that embody both fragility and resilience, I embraced material unpredictability, allowing forms and textures to emerge organically. Collaborative workshops further examined failure, imperfection, and materiality as carriers of memory and emotion, fostering empathy for both human and non-human entities.
Inspired by thinkers like Jane Bennett and Daniel Miller, the project challenges human-centered views of objecthood, recognizing the agency of materials and their capacity to mediate reflection and connection. Drawing on concepts like wabi-sabi and “thing-power,” the work celebrates the beauty of imperfection and the ambiguity that emerges when control is relinquished.
Recurring themes of encounter, empathy, and mediation underscore this practice, proposing that failure is not an endpoint but a means of discovery and growth. By embracing ambiguity and resisting the impulse to fully understand or master, the project advocates for a more interconnected and empathetic engagement with the world.
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’.open exposition comments (0)