Abstract
This is a practice-based artistic research PhD which investigates ways of being with intensities felt in the body and of artistically integrating them into sonic expression. It aims to do so by building sensory precision particularly through use of the voice. I consider voice as a somatic tool that aids in feeling these intensities, and that helps build knowledge about the self and its situated context. I put this sensual knowledge in contact with existing theories of affect and atmosphere, introduce the idea of ADHD selfhood and draw these together in presenting the practice of erratic and erotic voice-based composition. I discuss the processes of making and contexts around twelve distinct and diverse instances of artistic practice that include participatory works in one-to-one or small groups, co-creative duos, small group workshops and ensemble work. I foreground here not just embodiment but the specific body that has done this research, moving through a neurodivergent intersectional complexity that refuses identarian precision, preferencing a tenacity of feeling that invites witnessing and companionship as ways to get to know it.
List of Videos and Audio
Drawing 10 (red+black) (2020,2024)
Drawing 10 (red+black) full video (05:14 min)
Ecstasies of Rooms (2020) - embedded interactive composition, 45 min audio score, participation duration variable
sound mattering study: Elisabeth in the Hague (2021)
sound mattering study: Elisabeth in the Hague (2021), full video (06:05 min)
Balancing Art residency (2021)
Balancing Art Residency video (03:15 min)
Tea Break excerpt from test performance on DRIFT Residency, March 2022 (1:30 min)
Ecstasies of Things teaser trailer (1:39 min)
Ecstasies of Things performance video edit (10:02 min)
Sun Infusion Performance video extract (05:20 min)
a softer sound, an earthquake (2022)
a softer sound, an earthquake reflective collage video (13:43 min)
a softer sound, an earthquake full performance video (14:03 min)
Audio recording from co-creative development process 1 Nov 2022, Feronia - violin, Adriana - organ. (6:36 min)
Experimental Karaoke Juice Machine (2023)
Adriana Minu and Simon Whitehead, ExKaJuMa performance (03:06 min)
Adriana Minu and Simon Weins, ExKaJuMa performance (02:45 min)
Adriana Minu and Kevin Leomo, ExKaJuMa performance (07:54 min)
Splendor micro-residency (2022)
Splendor micro-residency documentation video (11:59 min)
Embodied Improvisation Research Workshop (2023)
Audio extract of practice, Symon and Adriana (04:07 min)
Audio extract of discussion, Symon and Adriana (05:10 min)
Video extract of practice, Gabriela and Adriana (02:14 min)
Video extract of discussion, Gabriela and Adriana (03:40 min)
Embodied Improvisation Research Workshop, full documentation video
(54:39 min)
between you and me - full performance by Nadar ensemble at Warsaw Autumn Festival 2023 (15:09 min)
Table of Contents
My ADHD body on Oliveros. An embodied reflection
Limitations of other theoretical approaches
Brief nod to sonic research context
Traveling through the incoherent sphere of feeling
What pulls the self into movement?
Embodied research into existing techniques and practices
Online Vocal improvisation with Maggie Nicols
Ruth Zaporah’s Action Theatre
Roy Hart voice with Margaret Pikes
Zu-UK DRIFT Residency
Fitzmaurice Voicework
Container 1 - At a distance from you
Drawing 10 (red+black) (2020,2024)
sound mattering study: Elisabeth in the Hague (2021)
Container 2 - Risking encounter, designing the context
Balancing Art residency (2021)
Container 3 - With others, with help
a softer sound, an earthquake (2022)
Experimental Karaoke Juice Machine (2023)
Splendor micro-residency (2022)
Sonic Sensing Workshop (2023 - ongoing)
Embodied Improvisation Research Workshop (2023)
