Composing Play:
An Investigation into Game Dynamics in Music
(2025)
author(s): Livia Malossi Bottignole
published in: KC Research Portal
This study dives into the realms of games and music, examining their history and the recent interest in the intersection of their features. The proliferation of research surrounding these two distinct yet interconnected fields has led to the emergence of new theories, reflections, and applications. While historical perception has commonly conceived "play" as a less serious activity, particularly in academic and artistic environments, this study explores how recent artistic movements have reclaimed its significance.
Both games and music contribute to a particular cultural proliferation. Moreover, the technological landscape has further amplified the impact of these artistic endeavors, with entertainment platforms experiencing widespread dissemination and an exponential increase in user engagement. Drawing inspiration from prior research, the study aligns with other analytical frameworks while consciously narrowing its scope to the performer-composer relationship. This intentional focus aims to delve deeper into the intricacies of this dynamic without dismissing the importance of the audience, framing it as a subject of debatable relevance within the study's specific analytical scope.
In conclusion, this study offers a comprehensive exploration of the relationship between games and music, shedding light on their shared history, contemporary developments, and the dynamics between performers and composers in the evolving landscape of artistic expression.
Decatastrophizing Failure Through Playfulness
(2025)
author(s): Nicholas Cornia, Arabella Pare
published in: Research Catalogue
This is an invitation to generate your own article about playfulness and its power to reconceive failure in artistic research, through a simple game of chance and knowledge. This text contextualises the game within the experiences of the authors, researchers at Orpheus Instituut, who have been engaged in creating explorative spaces for new types of collaboration, using the principles of playfulness. Through a combination of artistic and theoretical work and practical experience with iterative case studies in which game mechanics are tested, refined, and tested again, the authors are engaged in a process of discovery within a “magic circle”. Open-ended experimentation and collaboration are central areas of focus. Failure is re-conceived as a learning process and its catastrophic effects are integrated into the make-believe space of the game, while the insights and experiences drawn from these failures are retained once we step out of the magic circle.