Research Catalogue

research expositions

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  Composing Composing Instruments (2024) author(s): Tijs Ham published in: Research Catalogue
  This exposition aims to provide insights into my artistic practice and research 'Tipping Points', working within the field of live electronics and focusing on the exploration of tipping points in chaotic processes. The activities associated with my practice are profoundly interdisciplinary and include designing and buildinginstruments, composing artistic works for these instruments, and performing with them. Each of these aspects are interlaced and equally important in the development of new artistic works. The preface details my process in the production of new artistic works. Then the text details my thoughts on the term comprovisation and how it informs my approaches to the development of my work. Then the focus shifts to describe how my use of chaotic processes turns instruments into actant technologies which has important consequences on both my performance practice and instrument design. These insights are then illustrated through reflections on my work Multiple Minds, concluding that the instrument itself is actively composing, while at the same time, the act of designing and building an instrument can be viewed as composing.
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  Tipping Points (Reflection Component) (2023) author(s): Tijs Ham published in: Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen
  The Ph.D. project in Artistic Research, Tipping Points, conducted by Tijs Ham ('81), is situated in the field of live electronics and focuses on the exploration of chaotic processes within instrument design, compositional strategies, and performance. The unpredictable nature of chaos impacts many aspects of musicking. Artistic works emerge from the interferences between processes that are set in motion. Instruments are influenced and in turn influence the performer in return. The reflections turn to the notion of wondering as the performer and audiences alike encounter unforeseen sonic behaviors that are strangely musical despite their volatile and fragile chaotic origins.
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  [Anonymous for Review] Performance (last edited: 2024) author(s): Anonymous This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
  On the evening of the [Anonymous for Review], [Anonymous for Review], a cultural center in [Anonymous for Review], formed the stage for a two-hour concert divided into six performances. The fourth performance, titled [Anonymous for Review] was an audiovisual solo performance featuring a crackle box, a chaotic modular synth, two gongs equipped with transducers, an acoustic cello, and audio-reactive video projections. The performance was an improvisation that lasted for 17 minutes and 15 seconds. The two gongs were used as a type of local amplification, heavily altering the sonorous qualities of the modular synth, which was also amplified over a quadrophonic speaker setup in a cross-stereo configuration. The cracklebox and cello were not amplified over the speaker setup.
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  The Unfinished Instrument (2024) author(s): Tijs Ham published in: Research Catalogue
  This essay is a poetic musing on the unfinished nature of chaotic instruments. These instruments are seen as flexible or displaying pliancy. Each time the instrument is played, it changes again, leading to a situation of perpetual discovery.
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  The Institute of Constrained Chaos (2024) author(s): Tijs Ham published in: Research Catalogue
  This supportive narrative is connected to the graduation project 'The Institute of Constrained Chaos' (TIOCC) which investigates the use of chaotic processes in order to enhance musical expression of a live electronics performance. Inspired by the chaotic, expressive, musical power of overblown brass instruments, the project aims to develop a live electronics performance that utilizes a combination of new and existing hardware and software such as no-input mixing, circuit bending, digital signal processing and sensor based controlling to create an instrument that navigates the musical edges between order and chaos. The project has resulted in a ten minute improvised performance in collaboration with Bart van Gemert, a drummer, as part of a concert series organized and executed by a group of HKU graduate students operating under the name 'Custom Made Music' (CMM). Through many tryout concerts and several iterations of the instrument it can be concluded that the use of chaotic processes can enrich the expressive musicality of a live electronics performance.
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  Artificial Center of the Imagination (last edited: 2024) author(s): The Artistic Director of the ACI This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
  The Artificial Center of the Imagination is a loosely existing consortium of thinkers, artists, caretakers, makers, technologists, therapists, and educators, all sharing an affinity with the imaginary and the artificial. This exposition is a gathering of thoughts, a sharing of ideas, and a calendar of activities.
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  Doof Beeld (Deaf Image) (2024) author(s): Tijs Ham published in: Research Catalogue
  Doof Beeld deals with interdisciplinary collaboration and how multisensory perception affects the appreciation of art. These themes are explored through several thought experiments and a discussion of the collaborations between John Cage & Merce Cunningham, and Richard D. James & Chris Cunningham.
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