Composing the Politics of Musical Creation: The Composer as the Mediator of Collaborative Work Interactions by Helga Arias

This dissertation investigates composer-performer collaboration through the lens of artistic research, guided by the development and implementation of the Iterative Feedback Model for Collaborative Composition (IFMCC). Designed specifically for this study, the IFMCC offers a framework for shaping interactions between composers and performers, with a focus on iterative decision-making, feedback, and shared authorship. The research addresses how collaborative composition alters creative roles, compositional processes, and performative outcomes. Three case studies form the core of the investigation: a residency with Ensemble Vortex; a remote collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble; and a participatory composition project situated in a pedagogical context at the Heidelberg University of Education. Each case reflects a distinct collaborative environment, ranging from professional ensembles to educational institutions. Grounded theory methods are employed to analyze audiovisual documentation, participant interviews, digital portfolios, and workshop data. The findings highlight the importance of group size, disciplinary diversity, and tacit knowledge in shaping collaborative flow and authorship. They further show how technology, when adapted responsively, can shift the composer’s role from author to facilitator, enabling more distributed creative agency. By comparing the model’s application across varied contexts, the study outlines how the IFMCC supports both compositional openness and structural coherence—distinguishing it from models based on open form or post-hoc feedback. The dissertation concludes with a proposed taxonomy of distributed authorship, a discussion of institutional limitations, and recommendations for implementing collaborative models in artistic and educational frameworks. Keywords: Keywords: Composer–Performer Collaboration, Iterative Feedback Model for Collaborative Composition (IFMCC), Collaborative Composition, Grounded Theory, Performative Practices, Participatory Composition, Artistic Research, Institutional Frameworks Abstract (Deutsch) Diese Dissertation untersucht die Zusammenarbeit von Komponist:innen und Interpret:innen aus der Perspektive der künstlerischen Forschung, geleitet durch die Entwicklung und Anwendung des Iterative Feedback Model for Collaborative Composition (IFMCC). Das eigens für diese Studie entworfene Modell bietet einen Rahmen zur Gestaltung von Interaktionen zwischen Komponist:innen und Interpret:innen, mit besonderem Fokus auf iterative Entscheidungsprozesse, Rückmeldungen und geteilte Autorschaft. Die Forschung behandelt die Frage, wie kollaboratives Komponieren kreative Rollen, kompositorische Prozesse und performative Ergebnisse verändert. Drei Fallstudien bilden den Kern der Untersuchung: ein Residenzprojekt mit dem Ensemble Vortex; eine Fernzusammenarbeit mit dem International Contemporary Ensemble; sowie ein partizipatives Kompositionsprojekt im pädagogischen Kontext an der Pädagogischen Hochschule Heidelberg. Jede Fallstudie repräsentiert ein unterschiedliches kollaboratives Umfeld, das von professionellen Ensembles bis zu Bildungseinrichtungen reicht. Zur Analyse von audiovisuellem Material, Interviews, digitalen Portfolios und Workshop-Daten wurden Methoden der Grounded Theory herangezogen. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen die Bedeutung von Gruppengröße, disziplinärer Vielfalt und implizitem Wissen für den kollaborativen Prozess und die Autorschaft. Zudem zeigen sie, wie Technologie – bei flexibler Anpassung – die Rolle der Komponist:innen von der Autorenschaft zur Moderation verschieben kann, wodurch kreative Verantwortung stärker verteilt wird. Durch den Vergleich der Anwendung des Modells in verschiedenen Kontexten wird aufgezeigt, wie das IFMCC sowohl kompositorische Offenheit als auch strukturelle Kohärenz unterstützt – und sich dadurch von Modellen des offenen Formdenkens oder nachträglichen Feedbacks unterscheidet. Die Dissertation schließt mit einem Vorschlag für eine Taxonomie verteilter Autorschaft, einer Diskussion institutioneller Rahmenbedingungen sowie Empfehlungen zur Implementierung kollaborativer Modelle in künstlerischen und pädagogischen Strukturen. Schlüsselwörter: Kollaboration Komponist:innen-Interpret:innen, IFMCC, kollaboratives Komponieren, Grounded Theory, performative Praktiken, partizipative Komposition, künstlerische Forschung, institutionelle Rahmenbedingungen Schlüsselwörter: Kollaboration Komponist:innen-Interpret:innen, IFMCC, kollaboratives Komponieren, Grounded Theory, performative Praktiken, partizipative Komposition, künstlerische Forschung, institutionelle Rahmenbedingungen

Chapter 6 — Case Study #2: I See You

This chapter presents I See You as the second case study exploring the Iterative Feedback Model for Collaborative Composition (IFMCC) under conditions of remote collaboration. The project was developed with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) between 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when physical rehearsal and performance were replaced by distributed, online modes of interaction.

The chapter examines how the IFMCC adapted to this technologically mediated environment and how digital tools reshaped the dynamics of authorship, communication, and responsiveness within the ensemble. Through a series of online workshops, feedback sessions, and compositional exchanges, I See You evolved as both an artistic work and a methodological experiment testing the resilience of collaborative models beyond co-presence. The resulting composition integrates screen-based interaction, live video, and performative autonomy, extending the IFMCC into the domain of telematic performance and distributed creativity.

Initial Remote Collaboration

This video documents the first online workshop of I See You, held in early 2021 with members of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). The session inaugurated the project’s remote collaboration framework, focusing on the establishment of technical connections, shared working platforms, and initial exploratory improvisations.

Within the IFMCC structure, this phase corresponds to the “proposal” and “response” stages, where open-ended material exchange initiates a feedback cycle. The workshop tested the performers’ perception of agency and communicative flow in a digital environment, highlighting how latency, visual framing, and sonic mediation influence collective behaviour. The accompanying video summarizes these preliminary interactions, illustrating how early responses from performers informed both the conceptual and structural foundations of the piece. This material corrisponds to section 6.2.1., on pages 74-77.

Development and Rehearsal

The second online workshop, described in section 6.2.2. (pp. 77-80) represented a significant development phase within the IFMCC process, shifting from open exploration to targeted refinement. Building on the initial exchanges from Workshop 1, this session concentrated on defining roles, synchronisation methods, and the formal trajectory of the emerging composition.

The video presented here condenses key moments of this encounter, showing how feedback from the ensemble directly shaped the design of the score interface and the distribution of performer responsibilities. The workshop also foregrounded questions of presence and attention: how musicians orient themselves to one another through screens, and how the absence of physical co-presence alters modes of listening and interaction. These observations became central to the compositional logic of I See You, which treats technological mediation not as limitation but as constitutive material of the work.

The complete video score of I See You is presented here as the principal compositional artefact emerging from the remote collaboration process. Designed as both a visual and auditory interface, the score integrates recorded materials, live instructions, and animated cues that respond to performers’ actions in real time.

Developed through iterative feedback with ICE performers, the score reflects the adaptation of IFMCC principles to asynchronous and telematic modes of production. Its layered temporal structure—alternating between pre-recorded and live-responsive segments—embodies the project’s central question: how can collaborative composition generate cohesion when direct interaction is technologically mediated? The document provides insight into the compositional strategies that enabled distributed authorship and into the redefinition of ensemble coordination within networked performance contexts.

Performance
The performance presented below constitutes the culmination of the I See You project, realized in collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) as part of the Sonic Matter Festival in Zurich (2 December 2021). Conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic, the work extends the Iterative Feedback Model for Collaborative Composition (IFMCC) into a remote and technologically mediated framework for artistic collaboration.

Developed entirely through online sessions, shared digital materials, and asynchronous feedback, the composition explores how creative relationships can evolve without physical co-presence. It reflects on the conditions of mediated interaction and the ways in which individuality, empathy, and ensemble awareness can be sustained through digital communication.

The performance marks the first in-person convergence of the participants after months of distance collaboration. It thus represents not only a musical realization but also a performative synthesis of the project’s central questions: how authorship, intimacy, and collective identity are negotiated when artistic creation occurs across spatial and temporal divides.

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Helga Arias - Composing the Politics of Musical Creation: The Composer as the Mediator of Collaborative Work Interactions - 2025