[in situ] : re-thinking the role of musical improvisation performance in the context of the ecological and cultural crisis
(2024)
author(s): Barbierato Leonardo
connected to: Enacting Artistic Research
published in: RUUKKU - Studies in Artistic Research
If there is one thing that complexity theory has taught us, it is to consider phenomena not as isolated events with properties of their own, but to observe them from a different perspective: as relations in a vast network of interdependent systems. In this light, the role of contemporary music performance has changed, and will continue to change, precisely because the context in which it is created and takes place is constantly evolving. Artistic research can provide the tools to be aware of these changes and to actively re-act in this changing context, not by simply transposing the context or its elements into a representational or aesthetic framework, as happened with the avant-gardes of the 20th century, but by breaking cultural boundaries through transpositions into distant fields with isomorphic functional principles. It is precisely because of this characteristic, which reveals the intrinsic interdisciplinarity in artistic research, that it is possible to revolutionize the traditional conception of music performance and not confine it to an aesthetic regime, but rather expand it to include the context. However, since relationships are not unambiguous, it is not just a matter of revising the concept of performance, but also of reviewing the way we experience and live in the context, as artists, as human beings, and as elements of a circuit of which we are only a small part. In this paper, I will first examine how environmental and social changes have been reflected in performative changes and the ways in which the context of the ecological crisis and contemporary performance are interrelated. Then, I will focus on my research project, “[in situ]”, highlighting its site/situation-specificity, flexibility, immersivity, and interactivity, and explaining how it aligns with and differs from other contemporary music performance practices.
Information for foreigners: chronicles from Kashmir
(2016)
author(s): Nandita Dinesh
published in: Journal for Artistic Research
'Information for Foreigners: Chronicles from Kashmir (IFF Kashmir)' is an adaptation of Griselda Gambaro's 1992 play of the same time. Directed and written by this researcher in July 2015 in close collaboration with a theatre company in Srinagar, 'IFF Kashmir' uses techniques from site-sensitive, promenade, and immersive theatre to perform narratives surrounding the conflicts in the region. Beginning with a description of the foundations and development of 'IFF Kashmir', this exposition puts forward insights that have emerged around the notion of 'balance': from an evolution of balance vis-à-vis narratives of victimhood and perpetration to considerations of balance regarding representations of time (the past, the present, and the future).