With a longer history than its counterpart disciplines of dance, film and theatre, Artistic Research in Music is a well-established mode of investigation through practice, particularly in the area of music composition. In this seminar, Paulo de Assis (Orpheus Institute, Ghent) will draw upon the distinctive value of Artistic Research in Music, addressing its potential to offer doctoral students innovative methodologies and strategies for expanding the boundaries of the Music discipline.
This event took place on Thursday 2nd July 11am – 12pm.
Recording Of The Seminar
Summary
In this seminar, Paulo De Assis offers a clear view on how one might approach the dichotomy between artistic practice and academic research, and outlines the value and the place of creative questions in Artistic Research in Music. He begins the session by discussing the classical dualism between artistic practice and academic research: creating artistic work involves a distinct set of skills than the process of analysis. Artistic practice deals with sensation; academic research focuses on making sense. De Assis expands on the concept of Experimental Machines, suggesting that Artistic Research integrates both arenas – artistic practice and academic research – through an experimental approach.
Next, De Assis proposes that the artist-researcher should consider a field of problematicity rather than focus on research questions. Some research questions are factual, analytical or speculative, and those may be asked by practitioners and non-practitioners. The former two have answers which can be found; whilst the latter generates discursive materials rather than answers. On the other hand, Artistic Research in Music mostly deals with creative questions, which ‘problematize the music materials in unforeseen ways’. This type of question requires the making of artistic outputs as necessary conditions to the research process. I invite you now to watch the video recording of the seminar and the Q&A which followed above. Paulo De Assis’ videos can also be watched separately below, and the article discussed in the seminar can be accessed here.
On Artistic Research, by Paulo de Assis
On Research Questions, by Paulo de Assis
About Paulo de Assis
Paulo de Assis has developed a growing international profile as a researcher who combines musical practice (as a pianist, experimental performer, and composer), musicological expertise on 20th century Western art music, publishing experience (as author and editor), and wide-ranging transdisciplinary interests in contemporary philosophy, psychoanalytical theory, and epistemology. His work over the last 10 years has been devoted to artistic research: he was the Principal Investigator of an ERC grant (2013-2018), is the founder and Chair of the international conference series Deleuze and Artistic Research (DARE), and is the editor of the book series Artistic Research at Rowman & Littlefield International (London/New York). He is regularly invited for keynote speeches, evaluation committees, review panels, PhD external examinations, masterclasses, concerts, and performances.
Paulo de Assis is a Professor and researcher in Artistic Research at the Orpheus Institute, Ghent
https://orpheusinstituut.be/en/orpheus-research-centre/researchers/paulo-de-assis
This series of seminars is part of the research project Visioning the Future: Artistic Doctorates in Ireland. Presentations and discussions will be video and audio recorded. This documentation will be available on the project website and may contribute to the development of Open Educational Resources. By participating in this seminar you are giving your approval for audio-visual recording of the sessions, consenting to participate in this research project (anonymously or by providing your name if asking a question), and agreeing to the possibility of quotation/publication of extracts of your participation.
