Gentle Friction - through temporary territories of culture
(2024)
author(s): Alicia Rottke Fitzpatrick
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Friction between the other is not only inevitable but a necessary part of heterogeneous life. However, this friction can occur on a spectrum, from aggressive, violent manifestations to more gentle, subtle forms. This research explores the latter form of friction within the context of cultural events.
There is a growing rhetoric that cultural events are solely for elitist circles, and if this discourse continues to permeate society, the transformative power of these events will be in jeopardy.
To preserve and reinforce the transformative power of these spaces, this research asks: How do cultural events facilitate moments of gentle friction as a means to foster an understanding of 'the other'?
This research began as an introspective exploration into the author's practice. By unpacking the conditions of conviviality, autonomy, and temporality that ensure the friction remains gentle, the research explores how these conditions can be spatially translated to strengthen the experience in these spaces. Concluding with a set of design tools that can be used to ensure the vitality of cultural events, encouraging diverse participation as a means to protect this necessary form of friction between the other.
The poetics of autopoiesis: visual arts, autonomy and artificial intelligence.
(2024)
author(s): bruno caldas
published in: University of the Arts Helsinki
This exposition contains the manuscript and artistic components of the doctoral research project "The poetics of autopoiesis: visual arts, autonomy and artificial intelligence."
The project aimed to explore the limits of creative autonomy in face of recent developments in generative visual artificial intelligence.
Urgent Affairs, Strange Empathy
(2023)
author(s): Sveinung Rudjord Unneland
published in: Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen
In 2018, Kunst- og designhøgskolen i Bergen (KHiB) moved into brand new premises in Møllendalsveien, and at the same time changed its name and organizational affiliation to Kunstakademiet – Institutt for samtidskunst, Fakultet for kunst musikk og design, Universitetet i Bergen. At the same time, Sveinung Unneland began his work on the doctoral project Urgent Affairs, Strange Empathy. In the project, Unneland examines these structural and architectural changes, in parallel with that he explores how we can establish different autonomous spaces and practices within the institutional context as such.
Only by insisting on a radical openness about what art is or can be, is it possible, in my opinion, to maintain a meaningful relationship with the concept of art. An important question then becomes how we (as artists, researchers, and teachers) best cultivate and safeguard this openness, in our own practice and within the institutional framework many of us find ourselves in.
Urgent Affairs, Strange Empathy places itself in an institutional tradition that in Bergen goes back to the self-organized Vestlandets Kunstakademi (1973). Through practical collaborative projects, Unneland explores how this legacy can be continued within today's institutional framework. Parallel to this, he has worked with painting as an integral part of the research project; a personal practice where he can set up models for possible relationships between the fictional and the real, the personal and the common, the inside and the outside.
Bio
Sveinung Rudjord Unneland (1981, Farsund) is a visual artist and Ph.D. research fellow at the Art Academy – Institute of contemporary art, at the faculty of art, music and design, University of Bergen. He received his education at the Kunsthøgskolen i Bergen and Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee (2007). Sveinung Rudjord Unneland has worked with Urgent Affairs, Strange Empathy since 2018 under the guidance of Eamon O'Kane and Ane Hjort Guttu.
“How to motivate students in classroom mandatory music lessons?”
(2023)
author(s): Bárbara de Souza
Limited publication. Only visible to members of the portal : KC Research Portal
My experience teaching mandatory violin lessons during school time could have been more positive. Misbehavior, no engagement, no routine of practicing, and a deficient level of playing were some of the factors causing frustration in my teaching practice. Luckily, this frustration became an urge to change this situation and search for approaches to motivate the students in the context of mandatory music lessons. Action research and case study approaches were used for an intervention of three weeks in three different classrooms, with kids from 8-9 years old, from grade 5 at the Dutch Primary School system. Lesson plans were designed based on the principles of the Self-Determination Theory by Deci and Ryan (1985), with activities and strategies addressing the three innate psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Logbooks were also used as a way of stimulating the self-regulation of the students. The intervention showed that encouraging the students' autonomy was the best way to motivate them, and that can be done through simple activities that can be easily implemented in the lessons. Increasing their autonomy in several activities also added to their feeling of competence and relatedness. Using the logbook to track their practice was also a powerful tool to help them practice and boost their motivation.
The sea as a site of curation: Reflections on aesthetics education
(2023)
author(s): John Baldacchino
published in: HUB - Journal of Research in Art, Design and Society
With the sea as a “site” of curation, a thalassic approach (as that which belongs to the sea), facilitates a showing of those things that converge upon the contingency of daily living. The case for aesthetics is pedagogical, inasmuch as it provides us with a strategy for exiting into the wider world as we move outside the walls of a building (and that of Bildung). Exiting also implies rejecting all those institutionalized constraints that education’s edificial approach brings to learning. Here, in its aporetic nature, art is one of those few human actions which allow us to articulate and enact a sense of being both strangers and homecomers in our own world. In other words, this is a form of curation that is claimed through the autonomy that it portends.
How can autonomy and active learning be stimulated in a blended oboe class program?
(2023)
author(s): Irma Kort
published in: KC Research Portal
This research is an exploration into stimulating autonomy and active learning in musical tuition. Through an explorative journey in my teaching practice I developed tools to increase autonomy, active learning and self-regulation in students, using the self-determination theory, new learning and self-regulation as the main learning theories to find answers to my research question. In my lesson practice students rarely come in as active-, self-directing autonomous learners. However, literature and experiences of other teachers, show us that students – even beginners – can learn to become active, self-directed learners. It is not common practice yet to implement these theories in music classes. This is why I would like to create a toolkit and a user manual for teachers that would like to incorporate autonomy supportive teaching and self-regulation in their practices. I will also create a blueprint to inspire working with blended programs in music classes. A flipped classroom can trigger an ongoing learning process in the week, it can aid students in their practice and it is a tool to reflect on teaching practices, teaching styles and programs.
The research took place in the BASIS oboe classes at the School for Young Talent, in The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. There were 5 beginning oboe players, in the age group of 7 till 13 years.
I used a combination of design and action research. With the design research I developed the online learning space and the tools for active learning and self-regulation. With action research I reflected on my teaching, students learning, development and well-being and the use of the tools.
It was possible to use learning theories in different ways. I used tables and frameworks to reflect on my teaching, I used existing tools, I tailored tools to the age group of my students and I combined aspects of active learning and self-regulation. After three design cycles there is a blueprint of a toolkit that can be used in a flexible way and there is a blueprint for blended learning in instrumental music classes. The changes in my teaching style, the implementation of the learning theories and the reflections on the program using the online environment had a great impact on the teacher – student dialogue, the content of my lessons and the overview of the program. In students I saw an increase in motivation, autonomy and effectiveness. They are very engaged young learners, they learned to choose repertoire and strategies in their practice, they are able to plan, practice and reflect on their process and they have covered more repertoire and technique over the last year in comparison to the year before. They started sharing their music outside of classes and started thinking about their own goals in their oboe practice.
OPTIMAL Practising: An Autonomous Journey of Exploring Enhanced Expectancies and External Focus
(2022)
author(s): Xavier Tan
published in: KC Research Portal
While exploring ways to improve practice methods and reduce stage anxiety, the researcher came across the OPTIMAL (Optimising Performance through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning) theory of motor learning while reading William’s 2019 research on “Finding Focus”. The theory was proposed by Wulf and Lewthwaite (2016) to utilise motivation and attentional focus in improving performance.
Through a thorough theoretical review of the theory, other relevant studies, and attending workshops and courses, the researcher discovered better approaches and methods to practising for himself, enhancing his quality of practice and promoting personal growth.
By developing and applying an informed method to a group of 13 musicians from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, this research also investigated the impact of the OPTIMAL theory on the practice of other musicians through a three-week intervention. The goal-coupling action from enhanced expectancies, autonomy, and external focus was found to bring about greater practice quality. The data obtained from the intervention and a retention test also revealed enhanced levels of organisation, objectiveness, mindfulness, and confidence during practice. However, some found themselves more anxious in the process. The intervention highlighted a need for more resources, as well as safe spaces to discuss practice and performance in Conservatoires.
This research hopes that the findings bring about more awareness, acts as a source of information, and encourage more open discussions on the way musicians practice and perform, as more attention could be given to this in the way we shape music education.
Registers of Disinhibition: Transferred Autonomy and Generative Systems in Artistic Research
(2021)
author(s): Matthias M Sildnik S
published in: Journal for Artistic Research
This exposition is a presentation of an artistic method that incorporates generative technologies in artistic intervention. The autonomy of the generative system is analysed not as an isolated capability of a technical object but as a specific configuration between the autonomous operations of the system’s creator, the system itself, and the individuals related to the system. The notion of transferred autonomy is proposed to emphasise this interrelated nature of an entity’s autonomy. In this way, a generative system is positioned in a broader socio-economic and cultural context. To make this interpretation productive in relation to artistic practice, interventionist tactics need to be reconsidered as well. The presented method uses an opinion poll format. The opinion poll is interpreted as a basis for collective individuation enabled by generative processes. The conventional opinion poll format is deformed and reconstructed according to an assemblage of enunciation, enunciative recursion, disinhibition, and individuation. Rather than being a scientific, generalising and analytic method, it becomes an artistic generative, interventionist medium.
Two related projects are presented: ‘Happy Space’ (2016) and ‘Midscape’ (2018). Each describes the specific way in which generative art techniques are adopted and developed. The former presents a case study based on a survey of working and living conditions, hybridising an opinion poll with a procedural genesis of three-dimensional environments. The latter explores the levels on which generative technologies can facilitate the dynamics of structures conceived in the previous project. These dynamics are encapsulated in installation elements, opening a dialogue between physical and social dimensions.
Tracing gravity
(2019)
author(s): Geir Harald Samuelsen
connected to: Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen
published in: VIS - Nordic Journal for Artistic Research
The goal of this exposition is to investigate the particular qualities of painting and mountain climbing. Do they have their own aesthetics, their own processes and patterns of movement, their own environmental structures and psychology – and do they share some of these characteristics? The texts and pictures in this exposition, four essays all together, deal with the potential of mountain climbing and painting to map out space, quietude, euphoria, fear, skill, autonomy, instrumentality and movement in an expanded field.
This exposition contains the manuscript and artistic components of the doctoral research project "The poetics of autopoiesis: visual arts, autonomy and artificial intelligence." The project aimed to explore the limits of creative autonomy in face of recent developments in generative visual artificial intelligence.open exposition comments (0)
The goal of this exposition is to investigate the particular qualities of painting and mountain climbing. Do they have their own aesthetics, their own processes and patterns of movement, their own environmental structures and psychology – and do they share some of these characteristics? The texts and pictures in this exposition, four essays all together, deal with the potential of mountain climbing and painting to map out space, quietude, euphoria, fear, skill, autonomy, instrumentality and movement in an expanded field.open exposition comments (0)