From culture to nature and back. A personal journey through the soundscapes of Colombia
(2020)
author(s): Lamberto Coccioli
published in: Journal of Sonic Studies, Birmingham City University
The purpose of this essay is twofold: to celebrate the astonishing richness and diversity of Colombia’s natural and human soundscapes, and to reconstruct the process through which my direct experience of those soundscapes has influenced my own creative work as a composer. Reflecting on a long personal and intellectual journey of discovery that plays out on many levels – musical, anthropological, aesthetical – helps bring to the fore important questions on music composition as the locus of cultural appropriation and reinterpretation. How far can the belief system of a distant culture travel before it loses its meaning? From a post-colonial perspective, can a European composer justify the use and repurposing of ideas, sounds and songs from marginalised indigenous communities? In trying to give an answer to these questions through the lens of my own experience I keep unravelling layer upon layer of complexity, in a fascinating game of mirrors where my own identity as a "Western" composer starts crumbling away.
Copy, tweak, paste: methods of appropriation in facsimile artists' books
(2017)
author(s): Rob van Leijsen
published in: Journal for Artistic Research
Iconic artists’ books from the 1960s and 1970s have recently been subject to numerous attempted appropriations by publishers and artists, resulting in the production of facsimiles and bootlegs of famous titles. The original versions of artists’ books from the 1960s and 1970s have become scarce over time because of the relentless interest of art dealers and antiquarians, who sell the books for extraordinary prices. Outside the art and book markets, rare artists’ books are mainly available for consultation in libraries or exhibited in showcases. A re-enactment tendency concerning artists’ books has become a recurrent phenomena, the result or answer to the scarce status some artists’ books hold today. Reviewing several re-enacted artists’ books produced by artists and publishers allows their methods of appropriation to be identified and the discourses of this practice to be pursued. Written from the perspective of a graphic designer, the focus lies on visible technical aspects of book production, such as materials and production techniques, which allow comparison of the books, their makers, and their discourses. The conclusion surveys the found methods used by artists and publishers and discusses future tasks in producing and disseminating re-enacted artists’ books, as well as redefining the position of graphic designers in this process.
Self-ish Portraits
(last edited: 2024)
author(s): Andrew Bracey
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
My position is that knowledge about an artist and their work can be uncovered through close looking at their work and that some of this knowledge can be held and transferred tacitly to viewers (that are also artists). This knowledge can be articulated through practice, in this case in the making and subsequent close looking and reflection of the Selfish Portrait paintings. Because the knowledge is tacit, as opposed to propositional, the knowledge may be sensed, felt or difficult to articulate in words. Practice is the most appropriate vehicle to test whether this knowledge can shift from what Alexis Shotwell’s has articulated as ‘nonpropositional knowledge’ to ‘potentially propositional knowledge’.
In Selfish Portraits I search for self-portraits by a range of dead artists in terms of geography, gender, race, ‘status’, time of working, style, etc. This necessitates (re)searching beyond my current knowledge base using gallery visits, internet searches and books. The selected self portrait(s) are subjected to a period of ‘looking attentively’ in order to visual interrelate and learn about the painting, and by extension the artist. The main focus is allowing the self portraits to ‘talk to me’ following the theoretical stance of the ‘active’ painting or picture, that knowledge is held in the painting itself and cannot always be found in (written) documentation.
Animated Ecology
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Lina Persson
connected to: Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
In these works I have explored how I can relate to my environment through my daily practices of teaching, eating, animating etc. I begun the project by improvising lectures for various audiences I wanted to have input from. I have lectured to all possible enteties in the ecosystem I am a part of, from blueberries to colleagues to films. Every time something new continues to take shape. The exposition include essays, paintings and animations.