Možnosti aplikace prvků lidového divadla na současnou inscenační tvorbu pouličního performativního umění - The Possibilities of Applying Elements of Czech Folk Theatre to Contemporary Street Performing Art
(2025)
author(s): Michal Moravec, Vojtěch Balcar
connected to: Janáček Academy of Performing Arts (JAMU)
published in: ArteActa – Journal for Performing Arts and Artistic Research
This exposition, entitled The Possibilities of Applying Elements of Czech Folk Theatre to Contemporary Street Performing Art, presents the process and conclusions of artistic research that explored the phenomenon of Baroque folk theatre performed in neighbourhood communities in the Czech countryside in the 18th and 19th centuries and the search for the application of its principles in today's theatre activity. For this research, in cooperation with the Diocesan Museum of Brno, two street productions were created in the vicinity of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Brno to test the functionality of the means of folk theatre in today's context.
The exposition presents the initial considerations and methodology of the research, followed by a chapter-by-chapter description of the various theatrical principles in their historical context, how they were worked with in the investigated productions, and a summary of the benefits and problems uncovered. Finally, the major contributions of folk theatre to today's work are outlined, which were evident in two of the production forms. An essential part of this exposition is the audiovisual documentation of these two projects, which became the core of the practical artistic research.
(CZ)
Tato expozice s názvem Možnosti aplikace prvků lidového divadla na současnou inscenační tvorbu pouličního performativního umění prezentuje proces a závěry uměleckého výzkumu, který se zabýval fenoménem barokního lidového divadla hraného v sousedských komunitách na českém venkově 18. a 19. století a hledáním využití jeho principů v dnešní divadelní činnosti. Pro tento výzkum vznikly ve spolupráci s Diecézním muzeem Brno dvě pouliční inscenace v okolí katedrály svatých Petra a Pavla v Brně, na kterých byla ověřována funkčnost prostředků lidového divadla v dnešním kontextu.
V expozici naleznete výchozí úvahy a metodologii výzkumu, následně jsou v kapitolách popisovány jednotlivé divadelní principy v historickém kontextu, jak s nimi bylo pracováno ve zkoumaných inscenacích a shrnutí odhalených přínosů i problémů. V závěru jsou naznačeny největší klady lidového divadla pro dnešní tvorbu, které byly na dvou inscenačních tvarech patrné. Zásadní součástí této expozice je také audiovizuální dokumentace těchto dvou projektů, které se staly jádrem praktického uměleckého výzkumu.
KEYNOTE at SIMM-posium, November 2024, on Echoes from the torn down fourth wall
(2024)
author(s): Jacob Anderskov
published in: Research Catalogue
This is a exposition-version of a Keynote speech, held at SIMM-posium, Copenhagen, November 2024
Drawing on findings and experience from the Artistic Research project "Echoes from the torn down fourth wall", this keynote will explore key perspectives on building bridges between “art music” (whatever that means) and community singing. The research project began with an inquiry into audience participation within improvised concerts and has reinterpreted familiar Danish song material in an art music setting where the audience sings along in songs they know.
Topics will include proposals for understanding the social dynamics of participation and listening through the framework of 4e cognition; in this case, thinking of listening as embodied, embedded, enacted, and extended. The role of the spectator across different performance art domains will be examined, focusing on how the project has challenged notions and ideals of the spectator’s separation (or lack thereof) from the musical event.
Additionally, genre theory will be employed to rethink the distinctions and overlaps between “cultural” and “art” perspectives in the interpretation of inherited musical traditions. Approaches to possible renegotiations of musical traditions – whether through confirmation or destabilization – will also be discussed, partly in the Danish context of the project, but also extended more generally beyond this specific starting point.
Genklangen fra den væltede fjerde væg - DK version
(2024)
author(s): Jacob Anderskov
published in: Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen
DK abstract: (scroll down for UK abstract)
Projektet “Genklangen fra den væltede fjerde væg” forsøger at bygge broer mellem kunstmusikken og fællesskabet, her repræsenteret ved den danske sangbog ‘Højskolesangbogen’. I et hybridt koncertformat, skabt til projektet, hvor en intens, abstraheret tilgang til det musikalske materiale er gennemgående, opstår i løbet af koncerterne adskillige passager med fællessang, hvor publikum synger med på sange de kender. Projektet har blandt andet undersøgt hvordan vi kunne skabe et musikalske miljø, der kan bygge bro over de forskellige positioner (kunstmusik og fællessang), hvordan ideer om lytterens/tilskuerens roller kan genforhandles indenfor forskellige kunstdomæner, og hvordan projektet fra et genre-teoretisk perspektiv kan opfattes som et møde mellem bekræftende og destabiliserende kræfter. Det, der bliver gentænkt i projektet, er ikke så meget selve fortiden og heller ikke nødvendigvis etablerede fortællinger om fortiden, men snarere mulige samtidige og fremtidige fortællinger om, hvordan vi kan genfortolke sange fra fortiden – sammen. Og det der opdages, er ikke så meget skjulte perspektiver i fortiden, men derimod skjulte potentialer i, hvordan en majoritetskulturel ’assemblage’ som Højskolesangbogen kan genforhandles. Samtidig nedbrydes barrierer mellem udøvende og lytter, og der etablere nye måder at opleve ny musik på. Og vi mindes om, at vi aldrig ved, hvordan vores kulturelle fortid bliver fortolket i morgen.
UK abstract:
The project “Echoes from the torn down fourth wall” aims to build bridges between contemporary-music-as-an-art-form and community singing within songs from the Danish songbook ‘Højskolesangbogen’. In a hybrid concert format created for the project, within the context of an abstracted approach to intense, improvised concert music, several passages with community singing occur, where the audience sings along in songs they know. The research process has investigated how to create a musical environment that might bridge the different positions (art music and community singing), how the idea of the listener/spectator can be negotiated within different art domains and how, from a genre perspective, the project can be narrated as a meeting between confirming and destabilising forces. What is being reimagined in the project is not so much the past itself, and not necessarily established narratives about the past, but rather possible current and future narratives of how we may reinterpret songs from the past – together. What is being revealed is not so much specific perspectives in the past but rather hidden potentials in how a majority cultural assemblage like Højskolesangbogen may be renegotiated.
Echoes from the torn down fourth wall - UK version
(2024)
author(s): Jacob Anderskov
published in: Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen
The project “Echoes from the torn down fourth wall” aims to build bridges between contemporary-music-as-an-art-form and community singing within songs from the Danish songbook ‘Højskolesangbogen’.
In a hybrid concert format created for the project, within the context of an abstracted approach to intense, improvised concert music, several passages with community singing occur, where the audience sings along in songs they know.
The research process has investigated how to create a musical environment that might bridge the different positions (art music and community singing), how the idea of the listener/spectator can be negotiated within different art domains and how, from a genre perspective, the project can be narrated as a meeting between confirming and destabilising forces.
What is being reimagined in the project is not so much the past itself, and not necessarily established narratives about the past, but rather possible current and future narratives of how we may reinterpret songs from the past – together. What is being revealed is not so much specific perspectives in the past but rather hidden potentials in how a majority cultural assemblage like Højskolesangbogen may be renegotiated.
Echoes from the torn down fourth wall - Genklangen fra den væltede fjerde væg
(2024)
author(s): Jacob Anderskov
published in: Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen
The project “Echoes from the torn down fourth wall” aims to build bridges between contemporary-music-as-an-art-form and community singing within songs from the Danish songbook ‘Højskolesangbogen’. In a hybrid concert format created for the project, within the context of an abstracted approach to intense, improvised concert music, several passages with community singing occur, where the audience sings along in songs they know. The research process has investigated how to create a musical environment that might bridge the different positions (art music and community singing), how the idea of the listener/spectator can be negotiated within different art domains and how, from a genre perspective, the project can be narrated as a meeting between confirming and destabilising forces. What is being reimagined in the project is not so much the past itself, and not necessarily established narratives about the past, but rather possible current and future narratives of how we may reinterpret songs from the past – together. What is being revealed is not so much specific perspectives in the past but rather hidden potentials in how a majority cultural assemblage like Højskolesangbogen may be renegotiated.
Abstract in Danish:
Projektet “Genklangen fra den væltede fjerde væg” forsøger at bygge broer mellem kunstmusikken og fællesskabet, her repræsenteret ved den danske sangbog ‘Højskolesangbogen’. I et hybridt koncertformat, skabt til projektet, hvor en intens, abstraheret tilgang til det musikalske materiale er gennemgående, opstår i løbet af koncerterne adskillige passager med fællessang, hvor publikum synger med på sange de kender. Projektet har blandt andet undersøgt hvordan vi kunne skabe et musikalske miljø, der kan bygge bro over de forskellige positioner (kunstmusik og fællessang), hvordan ideer om lytterens/tilskuerens roller kan genforhandles indenfor forskellige kunstdomæner, og hvordan projektet fra et genre-teoretisk perspektiv kan opfattes som et møde mellem bekræftende og destabiliserende kræfter. Det, der bliver gentænkt i projektet, er ikke så meget selve fortiden og heller ikke nødvendigvis etablerede fortællinger om fortiden, men snarere mulige samtidige og fremtidige fortællinger om, hvordan vi kan genfortolke sange fra fortiden – sammen. Og det der opdages, er ikke så meget skjulte perspektiver i fortiden, men derimod skjulte potentialer i, hvordan en majoritetskulturel ’assemblage’ som Højskolesangbogen kan genforhandles. Samtidig nedbrydes barrierer mellem udøvende og lytter, og der etablere nye måder at opleve ny musik på. Og vi mindes om, at vi aldrig ved, hvordan vores kulturelle fortid bliver fortolket i morgen.
A quest to belonging
(last edited: 2025)
author(s): Sanne Rambags
This exposition is in review and its share status is: visible to all.
A quest to belonging
My role within music and meaning-making
This reflection is about my quest to find my own folklore, which turned ou to be a quest for belonging. Along the way, I discovered that what I was truly searching for was a sense of belonging and deeper meaning in my life as a human being and musician. My master’s study became an exploration of existential questions, providing me with greater understanding. This quest changed my perspective on being a musician, proving to be life-changing. The journey initiated by this master’s study will continue beyond graduation. Within these two years, through this existential quest for belonging and learning from different wisdom traditions, I found my folklore, because I found out a little bit more about myself. This led to discovering my purpose as a musician and how I want to dedicate the rest of my life to it.