Embodied/Encoded: A Study of Presence in Digital Music
(2024)
author(s): Robert Seaback
published in: Norwegian Academy of Music
Presence in Embodied/Encoded is concerned with the physical and embodied dimensions of musicking in relation to digital-informational representations of such phenomena. I explore presence through practices of recording, creative coding, audio production, and spatial electronic music composition. Of particular interest is the link between presence and the sensual/corporeal aspects of sound production and listening. Research in embodied music cognition and extended reality provide a foundation for this type of meaning formation.
In the context of immersive electronic music, I suggest that physical presence – a sense of ‘being somewhere’—emerges not just from images/representations of place, but from peripheral aspects of the (embodied) acoustic experience such as spatial proximity and distance, diffuseness, resonance and reverberation, noise floor, etc. Consequently, musical meaning in “Embodied/Encoded” moves away from the symbolic dimension of electronic sounds toward meaning as an outcome of embodied interaction with the environment. The concept of presence can also apply to ‘mixed’ music, or combinations of acoustic and electronic sources, in which virtual presence is complicated by real bodies and spaces.
Digital technology renders sound a flexible, malleable entity—a ‘flickering’ signifier to borrow from Hayles—capable of reconfiguring presence in creative ways. The dance between encoded and embodied dimensions inspires and informs this artistic research. Through a body of immersive music and multimedia documentation, I unpack connections between presence and its digital abstractions.
The past is rotting in the future: Exploring the Aesthetics of Absence in the daily life
(2024)
author(s): Alexandra Corcode
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
The Past is Rotting in the Future: Exploring the
Aesthetics of Absence in Daily Life, embarks on an
exploration of absence within the human daily life, examining
its manifestation through relations, processes,
and objects. It seeks to understand how absence is not
merely a void but a significant presence that shapes perception,
memory, and imagination. Through a multi-disciplinary
approach that integrates personal narrative with
academic writing, this research investigates the ways
in which absence is performed, textured, and materialized.
Central to the thesis is how photography, as both a
personal and artistic practice, serves as a critical medium
for discussing and visualizing absence, navigating
through personal experiences of loss, and broader philosophical
questions about how absence influences and
constitutes our understanding of the world.
Navigating in Overlaps: Redefining Performance Space as Multi-Space
(2024)
author(s): Stijn Brinkman
published in: KC Research Portal
In this study it is advocated to perceive performance space as overlapping multiple spatial layers, all existing in the same moment, but all with different boundaries. A triangle of performer, audience and surroundings creates performance space together as co-players by activating spatial layers and redrawing spatial boundaries. A new term is coined to better understand the unstable, moving nature of performance space: multi-space. To deal with the concept of multi-space in actual performances, the use of the verbs ‘navigate’ and ‘zoom in/out’ are advocated.
Embedded in this study is an exposition of the artistic projects of Stijn Brinkman, in which the concept of multi-space is tested as new tool to create performances with more exploration, agency, imagination, and movement. By finding a way for performers to disappear and to be present at the same time, the domination of walls and the domination of a performer's body (both apparent in many traditional performances) are challenged. The concepts of multi-space, navigate and zoom in/out stimulate audiences to engage more with their surroundings, while helping performers to shape their ideas always through site-specific processes.
"ART THOU PAYING ATTENTION?" - PRESENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY IN THE PERFORMING ARTS
(2023)
author(s): Camilla Damkjaer
published in: Research Catalogue, Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
This essay is reflection on the research project “ Presence and sustainability in the Performing arts” conducted by Camilla Damkjaer and Johanna Garpe at Stockholm University of the Arts 2021-2023.
The project started from the idea that the premise of the performing arts is to capture people’s attention. At the same time our attention is under pressure through experience economy, digitalisation and work-life conditions. We wanted to explore ways of creating sustainable relations to attention within this field. The purpose was of the project was therefore to develop a more sustainable relation to attention within the performing arts, in the meeting with meditative practices.
PRESENCE as an actor
(2023)
author(s): Ann-Sofie Nurmi
published in: Research Catalogue
During my master in Performing Arts at Stockholm University of the Arts, I have been looking into finding a greater presence, in a text based theatre rehearsal and workshop context. I have tried to look at things how they appear in front of me. A dilemma is, that when I afterwards try and look at presence, it has already gone. Therefore, I used different tasks/exercises, that can be recreated in order to try and catch presence again.
When exploring presence in a rehearsal and workshop context, I found a few clues how to find/create presence and doing tasks in order to find/create a greater presence. In this exposition you can find some of these clues. They are all entangled with each other so one will not work without the other so please see them all as a whole. This exposition is a tangible ans embodied complement to my master essay.
NetArt-Liveness
(last edited: 2024)
author(s): Marko Ciciliani
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
In this project I try to create the experience of presence and liveness in virtual browser-based spaces, in order to enable aesthetic experiences with qualities that are usually rather attributed to the physical world. However, the virtual environment will not be used to reproduce experiences of the physical world in an identical way. Instead, the research process is intended to identify specifities of presence and liveness in the digital world.
The core question to be researched is in shortest form:
How can virtual spaces be built into web pages that offer audiovisual experiences with qualities of presence and liveness that are comparable with experiences in non-virtual environments, but at the same time unfold media-specific characteristics?
Clareira: Towards a phenomenological perspective in the representation of architectural space
(last edited: 2022)
author(s): Ana Miriam Rebelo
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
This paper presents the results of a photography based research project on the representation of architectural space. From a phenomenological perspective, the investigation aimed to find a visual approach that would contribute to the representation of architectural space as a place for experience. Trindade subway station, by architect Eduardo Souto de Moura, was chosen as a case study, functioning as a laboratory for the experimentation of visual strategies that emphasize the physical presence and sensorial perception of the photographer, as well as the presences of users.
This paper was presented at the 5th International Conference "On the surface: photography on architecture" and later published in Sophia Journal
Ana Miriam Rebelo, Fátima Pombo, José Carneiro
Sophia Journal, 4. Visual Spaces of Change: Unveiling the Publicness of Urban Space through Photography and Image
Pedro Leão Neto, Iñaki Berguera (ed.) Scopio Editions. 2019.
During my master in Performing Arts at Stockholm University of the Arts, I have been looking into finding a greater presence, in a text based theatre rehearsal and workshop context. I have tried to look at things how they appear in front of me. A dilemma is, that when I afterwards try and look at presence, it has already gone. Therefore, I used different tasks/exercises, that can be recreated in order to try and catch presence again. When exploring presence in a rehearsal and workshop context, I found a few clues how to find/create presence and doing tasks in order to find/create a greater presence. In this exposition you can find some of these clues. They are all entangled with each other so one will not work without the other so please see them all as a whole. This exposition is a tangible ans embodied complement to my master essay.open exposition comments (0)