Research Catalogue

an international database for artistic research

• 2023. 2023 Contains research published in 2023
• 2019. 2019 Expositions 2019

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  Interpreting Finn Mortensen’s Piano Music in an International Perspective (2023) author(s): Kristian Evjen published in: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme
  Finn Mortensen (1922-1983) was one of Norway’s most central composers and influential modernists in the decades following the Second World War. Nevertheless, his music is little studied among both researchers and performers. The dominant contemporary view that Mortensen was, as the renowned Norwegian musicologist Finn Benestad put it, “[t]echnically competent and emotionally cold” (Benestad 1959), and a composer more occupied with the constructivist than the expressive and emotional sides of music has largely remained a prevailing paradigm. This perception was not improved by Mortensen’s tendency to always talk about his music in purely technical, compositional terms and to remain silent about the stylistic, aesthetic and emotional content on the few occasions he reluctantly commented on his music. In addition, his scores, characterised by an ascetic notational style, contain very few expressive marks, dynamic nuances, tempo modifications, or other signs that could reveal aesthetic or emotional intentions. In my PhD project, which focuses on the performance and recording of Mortensen’s complete piano music, my starting point has been the opposing view that his music has dynamic power, flexible gestures, colourful harmonic language, and what I perceive as strong and varied emotional content. By juxtaposing Mortensen’s piano compositions with some of the most iconic music of the twentieth century, including music by composers that heavily influenced Mortensen’s development and fuelled his search towards an internationally oriented modernist style, I hope to expose a broader range of viable ways of performing Mortensen’s music. This way, I intend to challenge the view of Mortensen as merely a cold constructivist and instead shine a light on his other sides, the impulsiveness, expressivity and emotionality I have always perceived as inherently present in his compositions. The project could thus significantly impact the understanding of his music and enable performers to make artistic choices based on a broader and more nuanced frame of reference, facilitating a deeper insight into his musical intentions. My main goal with this project has been to explore some of the music’s interpretational possibilities and, as an extension of this, disseminate and discuss the knowledge, methods and processes that can lead to new and personal interpretations. Through this project, I hope to contribute to a new assessment of the aesthetic, stylistic and expressive aspects of performing Mortensen’s piano music, and that way, challenge and nuance history’s judgment of one of Norway’s most central modernists. Benestad, Finn. "Ny Musikk." Vårt Land, December 8th 1959.
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  The E(c)lect(r)ic Guitar in The Mechanical Forest (2023) author(s): Vidar Schanche, Per Zanussi, Jonas Howden Sjøvaag published in: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme
  Abstract The E(c)lect(r)ic Guitar in The Mechanical Forest is my investigation into how to expand my improvisational palette as an electric guitarist, by working with compositional techniques and concepts used in composed contemporary western art music. In my work, I have focused on incorporating movement, microtonality, as well as multimedia composition techniques and application of technology, both in the performance as well as in the creative process. A key focus of my artistic practice has been exploration of the transcorporeal nature of my relationship with the guitar. This has resulted in creative work which has grown from a deep focus on the materiality of the guitar and the visual, tactile (touch) and kinetic (movement) aspects of sound production. Research Questions 1 How can I use compositional techniques and concepts from contemporary composed western art music to expand my palette as an improvising guitarist? 2 How can I transfer musical techniques and concepts, which often are used in a strictly predetermined environment, to a musical situation where improvisation is an important element in the performance. 3 How can I reconfigure/extend the electric guitar, and how can the reconfigured/extended guitar reshape the way I create and perform music?
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  Point Of Return (2023) author(s): Kristoffer Berre Alberts published in: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme
  Den akustiske og improviserte musikken er fundamentert på modeller som tar utgangspunkt i kollektivitet og samspill. Utgivelser av denne musikken baserer seg på å spille inn og dokumentere former for samspill, og altså lydfeste situasjoner som har foregått samtidig og i samme rom. ‘Stilarten’ vi karakteriserer som støymusikk er i høyeste grad også basert på samspill, men hvor innspillings- og utgivelsesprosessen er tuftet på andre kreative og skapende modeller. Her er prosessene rundt tid og rom ofte konstruert og manipulert via digitale eller analoge teknologier. Point of Return (improvisatoriske referansepunkt i tid og rom) er et prosjekt som går ut på å finne overføringsverdi mellom modellene, prosessene, rommene og bruken av tid. Største del av platesamlinga mi består av innspillinger fra 1960-tallet, for det meste jazzutgivelser fra USA, litt mindre av den såkalte europeiske improviserte musikken. Flesteparten er live-innspillinger tror jeg. Det er i hvert fall de jeg oftest setter på når jeg er alene hjemme – altså live platene. Etter hvert har vi blitt flere i husholdningen som jeg gledelig deler platesamlinga mi med, men ettersom min eldste datter på snart 8 år ikke har det samme romantiske (og analytiske) forholdet til den improviserte, akustiske og instrumentale musikken som meg, og ettersom jeg ikke har det samme romantiske forholdet til hennes Spotify-liste, har vi funnet ut at Beatles er noe vi begge kan sette på, noe begge kan nyte og synge med på. Vi har funnet fram til musikk innspilt lenge før vi begge ble født, men som begge har en emosjonell referanse til. Et lite segment av samlinga mi består av utgivelser fra den såkalte støymusikken. Disse platene hører jeg sjelden på (må jeg innrømme). Innkjøpene er som regel utført på grunnlag av (tidvis ikke helt edru) shopping på utenlandsreiser, og ofte på grunnlag av de kule omslagene. Likevel setter jeg stor pris på å være publikum på konserter med annonsert støymusikk. Det er noe magisk med disse konsertene, og jeg setter stor pris på at jeg ikke kan ‘sette fingeren’ på hva det er jeg liker med dem. Det handler kanskje om et fravær av analytiske egenskaper når det gjelder denne stilarten, jeg er litt ‘novise’, den er ikke min. Konsertene transporterer meg bort fra et analytisk ståsted og jeg setter stor pris på det oppstykkede lydlandskapet og de uvanlige elektroniske og soniske strukturene i musikken. Ingen av støymusikkplatene i samlinga mi er spilt inn live, og nesten alle er spilt inn av to utøvere, og på baksiden av omslagene oppgis det ofte at de har spilt inn musikken i hvert sitt studio, på ulik tid, men at utgivelsen likevel er produsert av begge to – som to adskilte og likeverdige improviserende komponister. Prosessen i mitt doktorgradsarbeid har i utgangspunktet gått ut på å spille inn musikk fra én og én utøver i isolasjon, for så å flytte dette innspilte materiale inn i en annen tid, i et annet sonisk rom, hvor musikken treffer (settes sammen med) annet innspilt improvisert materiale fra andre musikere. Arbeidet har i stor grad bestått i å eksperimentere med sammensetninger; versjoner av helheter, hvordan solistiske komponenter passer/ikke passer sammen, og hvilke felles og forskjelligartede referanser som er hensiktsmessig å benytte seg av i prosessen mot de offentliggjorte kunstneriske resultat.
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• The Search for Resonance (2022) author(s): Per Martinsen connected to: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme published in: Research Catalogue
  ABSTRACT V.1 - "THE SEARCH FOR RESONANCE" - OCTOBER 2018 «The Search for Resonance» by Per Martinsen, Research Fellow, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Faculty of Fine Arts In my project I want to investigate correspondences between frequency and geometry in order to build an “alphabet” that can be used as a platform for creating new musical and audiovisual works. I will use cymatic visualization techniques to look for patterns that stand out in their clarity and geometrical symmetry, and use the frequency data that cause these visual occurrences to create a musical scale that corresponds to these geometrical attributes. I will also map out the geometrical data to build a corresponding library, so that I can experiment with using these data to compose works from a visual viewpoint, and I also want to experiment with live sound in spaces that correspond with the geometrical data from the cymatic works to see how this can be used in a creative context. Having a background in an artistic practice that has focused mainly on very “physical” use of sound, i.e. rhythmic music usually played at loud amplitudes and with a strong focus on low frequencies, I want to explore how sound interacts with matter in a more profound way, in order to understand my medium better. My aim is to see if I can develop new tools for manipulating matter through the use of sound both in my own artistic practice, but also for my peers within the field and others interested in the subject. BACKGROUND The first known significant body of work on cymatic visualization of sound was developed through experiments carried out by Ernst Chladni (1756-1827). The term cymatics was later coined by Hans Jenny (1904-1972), and later György Kepes of Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MiT carried out some further research into the field, resulting in the development of a new thermodynamic technique using burning gas inside metal tubes as a new form of visualization of sound. Later developments in the field have been conducted by German photographer and researcher Alexander Lauterwasser, who studied the effects of sound on water, and by Ron Rocco, who used sound to manipulate pattern shifts in mercury via the use of lasers. Artists currently working in this field include, New Zealand- born musician Nigel Stanford, who extensively uses visual manifestation of sound in his music and video work ABSTRACT REV. II - “THE SEARCH FOR RESONANCE” - AUGUST 2019   A recurring dream:   I find myself inside a concert venue. Sometimes this is an actual venue that I have visited, or played at, sometimes not. To the right side of the stage, there is a backdoor. I enter, and find myself in a corridor leading to an empty room. The room is heated, has no windows, and feels claustrophobic. There is a small, open door in the wall on the left side of the room. Leaning through the door, I see a ladder leading further downwards, to another room underground.  I climb down the ladder, and find myself in an even smaller, warmer, and more claustrophobic space. There is a small table and two chairs in the middle of this room, and I can sense that someone have just been sitting in one of the chairs. I somehow just sense this, and sometimes there are traces like a recently smoked cigarette lying in an ashtray sat on the table, or crumbs left on the table by someone who just ate their lunch there. At the end of this room, a sound studio is rigged up against the wall. A mixing desk, with a speaker on each side. I walk over to the speakers, and look behind them, as if to find another layer, but find that there is nothing there.   As I set out last year with my project «The Search for Resonance», I stated that I wanted to «investigate correspondences between frequency and geometry in order to build an audiovisual “alphabet” that could be used as a platform for creating new musical and audiovisual works» - a very concrete task of creating a tool for myself and others, based on rather pre-conceived conclusions of what I am about to find.   Now, after one year of delving into the material, I have realised that what I actually have set out to look for rather could be rephrased «The essence of Sound?», or «How (and why) does sound manifest in the physical universe?», or even «What am I doing here?»   This realisation has moved my focus from investigating the laws of physics governing the behaviour of soundwaves into far more fundamental existential questions of philosophy and purely metaphysical territories.    It has also moved my perspective away from that of an non-academic self-taught artist glancing into the workings of current day scientific paradigms of “hard science”, back to far more personal and highly subjective experience-based areas of investigation, areas that I, like any sentient being who have ever questioned their conscious existence in this world, am as much an expert (or a fool) as anyone else.   This return to the world of pure artistic subjectivity I find both liberating and challenging, as the confusing (and somehow unclear) concept of artistic research being both academic and non-academic in its approach made me feel unable to move forward and do what I do best: the work of an independent artist.   All this leaves me more open-ended than when I started out, although I intuitively seem to stick to my habitual ways of working, which is to seek out to constantly develop my methods and aesthetics when it comes to work with sound, music and other channels of expression, update myself on news within the world of physics and other hard sciences, and keep on investigating the vast material available on metaphysical philosophies.   The only question that arises is: In what way, if any, does this concern anyone other than myself? ABSTRACT REV. III - “THE SEARCH FOR RESONANCE” - OCTOBER 2020 When I set out working with my project, I stated that I wanted to «investigate correspondences between frequency and geometry in order to build an audiovisual “alphabet” that could be used as a platform for creating new musical and audiovisual works». How scientific of me. Now, halfway into the project, I have learned that these kind of pre-conceived conclusions of what I am about to find, and how I can apply it to my work, is as far from artistic research as you can get. But it’s not that far from how I’ve always worked, to be honest. Things always seem to just emerge, the moment you start working. What emerged about a year into my project, was an expanded understanding of the word “Resonance”, especially in relation to artistic processes. Questions like: “How to create resonance?”, “Who does it resonate with?” or “Who creates the resonance?”, became more important than an artist only looking at the physical resonating qualities of sound. Not that the physical resonating qualities of sound are not included in the project anymore. They’ve just been given their own space. Investigated through the eyes and experiences of another me. One investigator turned out to be far from enough. So I have tried to split myself, as through a prism. Into three primary colours. To maintain three different perspectives. This way of projecting different self-images has made me able to look at the subject matter through new lenses - some more familiar than others. But all refreshing in their fictitious freedom. Getting others to do the hard work is always a smart workaround. So now I mostly write, and let the characters make their music through me.
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  Open Form. An Expanded Performer´s Role. (2021) author(s): Else Olsen Storesund connected to: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme published in: Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen
  Open form is a designation on a type of composition that is in some degree open. It is also a term in relation to understanding a genre. This means that I do not include for example Bach´s Die Kunst der Fuge (circa 1740), but Stockhausen´s Aus den sieben Tagen (1968) could be included. This project, however, is centered around the composers from The New York Scool, and composers related to The New York School: Christian Wolff, Pauline Oliveros, John Cage, Earle Brown, Morton Feldman and Cornelius Cardew. An Open form composition is graphic, text- or number-based. It may also be a combination of these three notational techniques and/or in combination with conventional staff line-notation.
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  RECURRENCES II - mezmerizing (2020) author(s): Brynjar Åbel Bandlien published in: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme
  RECURRENCES II - mezmerizing a shared practice by Brynjar Åbel Bandlien at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, Norway Saturday 7. april 2018 With Ann-Christin Berg Kongsnes, Brynjar Åbel Bandlien, Magnus Myhr, Marte Reithaug Sterud and Roza Moshtaghi RECURRENCES II - mezmerizing is the second part of Brynjar Åbel Bandlien´s PhD-project as a research fellow at Oslo National Academy of the Arts in Norway in the Norwegian Artistic Research Program Video: Millimedia.no Thanx to Frank Bock, Kai Johnsen, Chrysa Parkinson and Amanda Steggell Program information: #mezmerizingrecurrences
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