Research Catalogue

an international database for artistic research

• TEXT FORMAT The Hijacked Dream in Arts-Based Research: A Work of Surrealist Criticism (2025) author(s): Fey (Faith) Harkey, Cassie Fielding published in: Research Catalogue
  Mention of a surrealist form of criticism comes to us through Breton and Polizzotti, but we have little in the way of criteria or techniques for developing and identifying such critiques. This article, then, begins with the inquiry, what is surrealist criticism—or what might it be? The authors then introduce the focus of their own surrealist critique, the research methodology known as arts-based research (ABR). Over the course of their examination, Fielding and Harkey suggest that an egoic, or will-driven, approach to arts-based research must ultimately fail, in that it both denies the spirit of artmaking and disregards autonomy of figures in psyche. Blending academic and surrealist prose, fiction and poetry, the authors explore ways the ABR methodology can fail to serve either art or research. Still, Jungian thought, as well as the surrealist approach, may offer tools to inform an ABR that supports art, psyche, and research. In exploring the personal complex and the collective unconscious, particularly, Harkey and Fielding offer a window on all that can be lost—or gained—when the life of psyche is considered in an arts-based methodology.
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  Soittaa omaa mahtia - An Experimental Approach to the ‘Inner Power’ Improvisation in 19th‑Century Karelian Kantele Tradition (2025) author(s): Arja Anneli Kastinen published in: Research Catalogue
  This exposition introduces an experimental framework for acquiring the “inner power” improvisation associated with 19th‑century non-literate Karelian kantele players. While their precise thought processes remain unknowable, it is clear they did not focus on finger control. The method emphasizes internalizing traditional plucking patterns without sheet music, allowing subconscious decision‑making to guide improvisation. Stepwise learning of increasingly complex patterns enables musicians to combine and vary them freely, creating a continuous flow of tones in which the player becomes part of the sound field. Contemporary practice thus reconnects with what kantele players once described as “playing their inner power” (“soitan omaa mahtia”), a style later termed “Quiet Exaltation” by folk music researcher Armas Otto Väisänen.
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• Emergent Patterns in Cultural Entrepreneurship: Navigating Tensions, Building Networks, and Cultivating Care (2025) author(s): Christer Windeløv-Lidzelius published in: Research Catalogue
  This exposition explores emergent patterns in cultural entrepreneurship, grounded in empirical reflections from a cohort of early-career cultural practitioners. Drawing on anonymized theses and defense feedback from the Arts and Cultural Entrepreneurship master’s programme at Stockholm University of the Arts, the article identifies three core themes: tensions between artistic practice and entrepreneurial imperatives; the role of networks in sustaining practice; and the emergence of care as both method and ethic. Situated within the fields of artistic research, pedagogy, and cultural theory, the exposition offers a multi-layered reflection on what it means to navigate uncertainty and create meaning in contemporary cultural work. The piece integrates theoretical perspectives on effectuation, narrative and embodied knowledge, slow design, and behavioral insights to illuminate how cultural entrepreneurs build viable, sustainable practices in volatile environments.
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  Reflections on Reflecting (2025) author(s): lisa hester published in: Research Catalogue
  This exposition traces the development of a reflective arts and health practice during 2025. It brings together short written episodes, visual documentation, audio notes, and process materials to examine how artists make sense of the emotional, relational, and practical demands of working in care-based and community settings. The work sits alongside a written PDF and expands on it by presenting the reflections in a non-linear, multimodal format suited to artistic research.
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  The Sonic Atelier #9 – A Conversation with Arnold Kasar (2025) author(s): Francesca Guccione published in: Research Catalogue
  This exposition is part of The Sonic Atelier – Conversations with Contemporary Composers and Producers, a series dedicated to examining the evolving role of the composer in the twenty-first century. Through a Q&A format, the project investigates how contemporary creators navigate hybrid identities across composition, performance, production, and technological craft. This interview features Arnold Kasar, German composer, pianist, producer, and mastering engineer, whose work spans improvisation, ambient sound worlds, classical heritage, and studio-based experimentation. Moving fluidly between the piano, prepared piano techniques, and digital production environments, Kasar constructs musical landscapes where acoustic gesture, electronic texture, and spatial depth coexist as a single expressive field. In the conversation, Kasar reflects on improvisation as the generative core of his practice, on the piano as both an instrument and a source of raw sonic material, and on the studio as an expanded compositional space. He discusses the continuum between writing, producing, and mixing; the role of technology as a creative partner; and the influence of spatial audio, room acoustics, and Dolby Atmos on his musical language. The interview also touches on collaborations, the aesthetics of ambient music, the cultural impact of streaming platforms, and the challenges and possibilities posed by artificial intelligence. Kasar’s reflections reveal a vision of music grounded in human presence and intuitive creation, yet deeply attuned to technological and spatial possibilities—where composition, sound design, and performance converge into a fluid, embodied process of listening, resonance, and transformation.
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• Listening to the sounds of war (2025) author(s): Razumeiko Illia published in: Research Catalogue
  The project intertwines personal memory, sound studies, and artistic practice to explore how war transforms both landscape and perception. Beginning with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the author reflects on the Dnipro River as a literal and symbolic frontline, where silence and explosions shape the sonic environment. Through the creation of operas such as Chornobyldorf, Genesis, and GAIA-24, in cooperation with composer Roman Grygoriv and artistic collective Opera Aperta author investigates how art can transmute trauma into collective listening and ecological reflection. The text ultimately proposes sound and water as metaphors for resilience and continuity—liquid archives that carry both the memory of destruction and the possibility of regeneration.
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