A Singing Orna/Mentor's Performance or Ir/rational Practice
(2019)
author(s): Elisabeth Laasonen Belgrano
published in: RUUKKU - Studies in Artistic Research
This exposition is an orna/mentor’s doing, an attempt, an essay, a performance, a line-of-thinking, a series of relations, a performance-research-model, a beginning of an orna/mentor’s manifesto. It might appear chaotic for some, and inviting for others. Its aim is to allow for the visitor to dive into the ‘orna’ (as in ‘urn’ meaning: an ornamented vase) mentored by a vocal performer. The exposition performs the raw and asymmetric intimacy of a research process searching to penetrate into (while at the same time radically opening up) that-which-is-yet-to-be-known. The performative caring has created an endless amount of philosophizing figures/sounds-in-themselves, as ornamented variations of an original musical score; a translation of one doing of another doing of another doing. Included in this exposition - as yet another ornamented variation – is a ‘peer-review-dialogue’ (a Q & A) between the orna/mentor and a Chorus of Unknown Reviewers. This dialogue has been included to clarify (or perhaps confuse even more) some of the questions that might arise in the mind of the visitor while moving through the exposition.
Trans-becomings in Western classical singing: An intra-active approach
(2018)
author(s): Milla Kristina Tiainen
published in: RUUKKU - Studies in Artistic Research
This exposition is an attempt to think transgender existence and experiences in relation to voice and the particular practices of western classical singing. A key source of inspiration for this voice and music-bound line of exploration is our collaboration with Finnish singer, voice teacher and trans man Demian Seesjärvi. Thus, the propositions presented here are meant to take form in-between Seesjärvi’s vocalizations, his spoken and written reflections on his body/voice and artistic activity, and the research interests and concepts that we bring into these encounters.
The exposition explores the interrelations of trans existence and vocal art practices through Seesjärvi’s distinctive practice in classical singing. Our accompanying theoretical aim is to participate in recent discussions about how materiality - or better, materialities - matter a great deal in trans ways of being or becoming and the unfolding of trans selves.
In particular, we engage with Seesjärvi’s activities as a classically trained singer by asking how his artistry and perhaps the music-cultural field of classical singing more generally prompt important insights into the co-formations of body, voice and sex/gender in trans ways of being. How do material, cultural and discursive aspects interrelate - or, in the terms used in this exposition, intra-act - within these formations? How can new materialist ideas concerning the emergent, instead of passive or predictable, character of matter, and the intra-active occurring of materialities and other phenomena, (e.g. Barad 2003; 2007) advance understandings of materiality, voice and sex/gender in vocal art practices and trans studies of music?
Muestra de obra tesis doctoral
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Federico Eisner Sagüés
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
La muestra despliega los resultados de la colaboración sonora con los poetas sonoros Luis Bravo y Pía Sommer durante el transcurso de mi investigación doctoral.
La muestra se estructura según los modos de colaboración, y los audios y videos se consideran los registros de una constelación de colaboraciones en torno a la las prácticas vocales, que excede a nuestras agencias humanas, incorporando también la agencia material de la tecnología y de nuestros círculos artísticos. En las intervenciones electroacústicas se trabajó a distancia sobre poemas sonoros previamente fijados por los poetas. Para las colaboraciones performáticas se incorporó el uso de instrumentos y efectos en vivo, y el trabajo a dos voces. Se trató de dos encuentros con cada poeta entre diciembre de 2019 y agosto de 2021 en Chile, Uruguay y España. La muestra incluye también las entrevistas realizadas a ambos poetas y las bitácoras de trabajo durante los encuentros. Por último, también se incluye una sección de archivo de la circulación artística y académica que ha tenido este trabajo.
Leçons de Ténèbres
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Elisabeth Laasonen Belgrano
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
The aim of this project is to investigate vocal ornamentations in French baroque composer Michel Lambert's (1610-1696)'Leçons de Ténèbres. It is an artistic research project where vocal performance practice is diffracted through Karen Barad's theory on agential realism and Japanese philosopher Kitarō Nishida's concepts of Action-Intuition and Basho.
NORDIC NETWORK for VOCAL PERFORMANCE RESEARCH
(last edited: 2018)
author(s): Elisabeth Laasonen Belgrano, Päivi Järviö, Susanne Rosenberg, Milla Kristina Tiainen
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
NNVPR seeks to promote innovative (cross-disciplinary) research and teaching relevant to the Vocal Performance Studies. The network will strive to inspire, exchange and debate on issues relevant to vocal performance research among scholars, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, staff, and other interested members of the research community.
Lessons in the Shadow of Death
(last edited: 2017)
author(s): Elisabeth Laasonen Belgrano
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
A voice.
Alone.
Sounding as a prayer.
As a meditation.
Moving through lamentation and hope.
In the middle of life.
In the middle of living.
In the shadow of Death.
There is a voice.
Voice of Life itself.
Voice of God.
A performance of a vocal prayer.
Voice - Elisabeth Belgrano