Hugarflug annual conference on artistic research
11. - 12. September 2025
Iceland University of the Arts
Sonic Voyaging – Improvisation as Ephemeral Research in Dance and Music
Inês Zinho Pinheiro, Lilja María Ásmundsdóttir, Moss Dean
Sonic Voyaging is an ongoing project exploring the relationship between dance and music through improvisation. It brings together performers from diverse backgrounds to engage in live, ephemeral research that resists fixed forms. Each session begins with a shared warm-up and exchange of artistic references, followed by collaborative improvisation and an informal public sharing. With no predetermined outcome, each edition is uniquely shaped by the participants and the context, emphasizing immediacy, responsiveness, and the joy of collaboration. Sonic Voyaging is both a performance and a process – always in motion, always evolving.
Inês Zinho Pinheiro
Dancer, researcher and teacher.
Inês Zinho Pinheiro is a dancer, researcher, and teacher whose work interweaves these practices. She trained at the Dance School of the National Conservatory (Lisbon, 2011) and danced with the junior company CINEVOX in Switzerland (2012). She holds a BA in Ballet and Contemporary Dance (Rambert School, 2015) and an MA in Dance Philosophy and History (Roehampton University, 2019). Since 2018, she has collaborated with musician Lilja María Ásmundsdóttir and, from 2020, has led the Sonic Voyaging project. Inês teaches at the Higher School of Dance (Polytechnic of Lisbon) and is a PhD candidate at the Fine Arts Faculty, University of Lisbon.
Lilja María Ásmundsdóttir
Composer
Lilja María Ásmundsdóttir completed a PhD in composition at City, University of London (2024). She also holds an MA degree in composition from the same school (2018) and a BMus degree in piano performance from Iceland University of the Arts (2016). Her artistic practice is centred on explorations of collaborative creativity. Working with sculptural elements of sound and matter, she creates installations, sound sculptures, and performances. The works are actively designed to facilitate continuous processes that highlight how ideas surface from correspondences with materials, between individuals, and in context to one’s surroundings.
Moss Dean
Artist
Moss kissing is from Cornwall, and now lives in Portugal. His music encompasses a wide range of sonic possibilities; he established himself as an energetic live post-club act whilst balancing more ambient offerings. Currently, he is exploring his voice, combining with scattered pianos and strings that he has pulled from his audio-graphic library - a key component to his approach to practice as research. In 2024, he released two E.Ps, "i'm not quite there yet but your eyes see me" and "plastic ballads of love & death".