In this simple, motionless While
Sensing Time through Language

 



The practice I propose blurs the line between a research presentation and a collective performance. The performative and discursive moments are not conceived separately; rather, their very interaction will be exploredwithin the framework of my PhD project, which investigates the relationship between song and discourse, singing and speaking in collective vocal improvisation. In particular, the focus of this collaborative performance will be on time in relation to language. Challenging the usual predominance of the English language in conference contexts, the participants and I will reflect together, through dialogue and vocal practice, on the inherent differences within our diverse mother tongues, and will address the following questions: How can we experience a shared portion of time differently thanks to the plurality of our languages? What is the relationship between the present time of a vocal artistic performance and the time conveyed by language? And what kind of new musical performance can emerge from this investigation? By questioning any clear-cut division between speech and song, conversation and performance, performer and audience, I aim to create a space for debate—a laboratory for the creation of meaning, where different opinions, experiences, voices, and backgrounds interact together without dissolving into homogeneity.
In this audio clip, you can find a brief excerpt from a previous presentation session (Orpheus Instituut, 18/10/24), where participants tell each other, each in their own language, about their childhood games: you can hear some clapping to nursery rhymes, others singing, laughing, or experimenting with rhythmic speech patterns. Through this practice, they explored the boundary between speech and song. In particular, they observed the relationship between the language of recalling a memory and the present time of the vocal performance. 

 

 

 

 

"In this simple, motionless While" is the last of a series of workshops/presentations of my research project in different contexts and venues (Zentrum Fokus Forschung in Vienna, European Platform for Artistic Research in Music in Ljubljana, Forum Artistic Research in Klagenfurt and more).

At the European Platform for Artistic Research in Music, the participants and I engaged in multiple improvisations on a passage by Brazilian author Clarice Lispector. With each repetition—first in Portuguese, then in English, and finally in our respective native languages—we uncovered new dimensions of meaning-making.

At the Forum for Artistic Research, the participants and I explored the diverse ways our languages express time. We created an improvised performance in which each language contributed to describing and singing the present moment as it unfolded during the performance.