Stockholm University of the Arts
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Freedom through restriction : An artistic project which investigates movement, freedom of expression and the value of restrictions in creative processes.
No full textFreedom through restriction is an artistic project which investigates movement, freedom of expression and the value of restrictions in creative processes, through my experience. Through this study, I aim to develop innovative methods to encourage myself and fellow practitioners to connect with the body, to expand awareness and knowledge of the circus practice through the self, and to think through movement for creative, artistic, and pedagogical purposes. The source material is videos of my movement research, relevant literature and texts that I have been writing throughout the two-year Master Programme at the Stockholm University of the Arts.I start by introducing the concept of restricted verticality, an involuntary alteration of the normalized environment of aerial disciplines, where the vertical space is stripped to the minimum. Adaptation, sensing, rope manipulation are methods extrapolated from the exploration of the limited vertical space. Learning to shift conditions voluntarily becomes a method to unlock new possibilities and to acquire deeper knowledge of the circus practice. The purpose of this thesis is to propose a less anthropocentric approach to circus apparatus and a shift in virtuosity that differ to the standardized ones of athletic prowess and dominance over the objects, to enable circus artists to become active creators and improve a sense of availability towards other animate and inanimate bodies. The last chapter is dedicated to my Final Major Project, a physical representation of my study at the end of the Master course, and how this experience informed my practice further.Restriction is throughout a framed space of investigation, where environment, bodies and task-based improvisation approaches are all intended as spaces within which there is an infinite number of possibilities to explore freely and discover their full potentialities. The mutual relationship between restriction and freedom of movement is opportunity for artistic research processes
The Art of Quitting : A Dissection in six Acts
No full textThis study offers insight into the process and frst-hand experience of quitting circus. The focus lies in the defning of acts of stopping as a consciouschoice. Stopping is generally seen as negative and unproductive as it caneasily be associated with giving up or failing, and therefore seems to be anunlikely and unworthy subject to be researched. But in the artist’s opinion thedecision to stop carries a consciousness and a creative potential, which qualifes Quitting as a research subject. A substantial part of the research was devoted to defning and redefning the subject’s borders, as well as its heart. Within these explorations, concepts of phenomenology, psychology, storytelling,deconstruction, vibrant materiality and memoir-writing were discovered andrevealed. As a circus performer in transition, the artist was guided throughher research journey by sharing her own story of starting and stopping circus,sharing insights gained through reflective writing and self-observation. These were further enhanced by participating in physical and performance exercises and movement improvisations.Quitting’s potentiality is anticipated inspaces of resistance, moments of inertia, in the motivation for stopping, andin the felds between the old and the ‚not yet‘. This inspired the investigationof symptoms like training, repetition, pressure, perfection and identifcation. The initial defnition of Quitting as an ‚Intended Un-becoming‘ in a cleansingact of creating a new, unspoilt and authentic starting point was confrontedwith the realization that consequent Quitting would result in death. This challenged the project’s realizability and led to a confrontation with questionsabout achievement and performance. The abandoning of an impossible concept while continuing to pursue the project, presented Quitting as a paradoxand indicated possible new approaches. Recognizing the act of letting go as an individual event, and practices of realigning and re-synchronization as a generating of the potential that was searched for in Quitting, established the telling of Quitting Stories as a Making ofSpace. Storytelling and interviews with Quitters, practitioners and therapistsare therefore the main practice and expression of this research. Understanding Quitting’s paradoxical nature enabled its potential as an artistic practice, by presenting subjects in an unexpected way and allowing themto be seen in a new way. Quitting as an artistic practice is an intended futurecontinuation of the research
Presentness : What it is, and how my performance can help me record it.
No full textThis research is an attempt to define ”presentness” in documentary film. Presentness is a term I have borrowed from performance studies where it describes a feeling when actors are unusually present. I use it here to describe moments of intense focus, uncertainty, a connection or an unexpectedness between the people I film, and myself. Considering myself a ”social actor”, I apply Goffman’s work on performance in everyday life to help me understand the performances taking place in front of and behind the camera. As method, I have created ”retroscripts”, transcripts of recordings I made for a film where I talk to my friends about growing up in a multicultural society. I analyse these encounters, trying to understand when and why moments can lead to a feeling of presentness. Diary entries contribute a biographical element, charting my own interest and awareness of my performance as a filmmaker. This practise-based research develops previous discussions on performance by using the transcripts to place theory in the real world of filmmaking. It connects conversations on identity by Hall, which are closely related to the subject matter of the recordings themselves, with performance theory as developed by Fischer-Lichte. It approaches theory as a way of interpreting what takes place and as a practical tool for becoming a better filmmaker. The research engages with the work of other filmmakers with an interest in performance (Asquith, McAllister), through their films and theoretical contributions. Documentary filmmakers are split in their attitudes towards performance. Some try to get beneath the ’mask’, others examine the mask itself to see what it tells us about the image we project of ourselves. Inspired by Goffman, I focus on the cracks in between, when the mask comes on or off, believing these moments to contain a spark of now and a potential for presentness. I draw parallels with different acting techniques and propose that filmmakers can benefit from learning from the preparation of actors. While acknowledging that presentness in film is a subjective experience and its perception by an audience is dependent on context, my research suggests a better understanding of the performance of a filmmaker can help her create the conditions for presentness to occur in the creation of filmic material.
The Potential of Multilingualism in Dramatic Works
No full text"The potential of multilingualism in dramatic works" is an artistic research project that aims to investigate, develop, and deepen the practice of writing multilingual drama for an imagined audience in Sweden. Through placing significant focus on the playwright's practice, the goal is to contribute to the artistic development of dramatic writing in Sweden and in other Swedish-speaking contexts. By using sociolinguistic theories and terms around multilingualism, both the artistic practice and the discourse surrounding it are developed and challenged. Through the application of an integrated ideology of multilingualism, language ideologies based on a monolingual norm are contradicted. In this way, the project makes room for silenced and marginalized voices and perspectives that rarely take or receive a place in Swedish performing arts contexts. Considering language, and thus multilingualism, as social practice and action is the starting point for the research. This post-structuralist approach is in line with the theories of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and language theorist Michael Bakhtin. In this research drama is considered as both practice and as action. Central concepts are linguistic repertoires, translingualism and speech acts. Within the project, two dramatic works have been created, ASIA/ÄRENDE and UniZona & PolyZona. These constitute the artistic result of the research and can both be described as dialogical polyvocal plays. Common and central to both works is that multilingualism permeates them and constitutes their formal core. The multilingualism has consequences that affect the dramaturgical and musical structures. The creation of the works has taken place in dialogue and collaboration with multilingual actors, directors and translators in Sweden and Finland. The form of the artistic work has been conversations, workshops and periods of writing, translation, and design. Through these processes and works, the issues have been successively investigated. As tools for analysis, reflection and discussion, four categories have been created: dramaturgical, political, emotional and communicative potential. With the help of these, the concrete functions of multilingualism in both dramatic works are examined with the aim of making visible the potential of multilingualism in dramatic works. The project demonstrates that multilingual dramatic writing requires different, less traditional approaches and in this way contributes to an expanded practice for the playwright. The methods used in the creation of the works have been collaborative, transcultural and dialogic, shifting between practices and acts of listening and composing. "The potential of multilingualism in dramatic works" aims to show the enormous artistic, creative, political, emotional and communicative potential that multilingualism can bring to the dramatic work and, by extension, the performing arts.The potential of multilingualism in dramatic works (printed). Through QR codes the written thesis is connected to:Two expositions in Research Catalogue:1. The potential of multilingualism in dramatic works, which includes the thesis as a PDF. 2. Listening to ASIA/ÄRENDE: Kaarle Vihtori Turunen and UniZona & PolyZona, which consists of: The manuscripts of ASIA/ÄRENDE: Kaarle Vihtori Turunen (two versions), and UniZona & PolyZona. Sound recordings of readings of the two plays ASIA/ÄRENDE: Kaarle Vihtori Turunen (two versions), and UniZona & PolyZona. Excerpts from the two mentioned dramatic works: sound files and text excerpts. </p
Embracing Stasis
No full textEmbracing stasis is a performance questioning and exploring certain notions of force and attack in interaction with tenderness and care. It seeks to approach and illuminate moments of simultaneous presence or correlation between these elements and focuses on their transitional zones. The work is navigated by a curiosity about situations that could be both offensive confrontations and encounters of care. Situations of stasis, as dynamic situations of equally opposing forces are aimed for and met through an urge for tangibility. By working with the idea of form as possible carrier of diverse qualities, Martial Arts practices supply the process
Definitionen av det ordlösa : en dokumentär process om klimat och stumhet
No full textThis essay explores wordlessness as a state in relation to the climate crisis and to my filmmaking. It takes as its starting point my attempt to write a voiceover, and the lack of words that came to characterize that process. I also engage with the question of how one might approach a subject that encompasses the entire atmosphere, and describe a creative process that can just as much be understood as a work of mourning as a filmmaking endeavor
Rummet skriver
No full textThis text provides an account of the creation of the performance STUMT TVÅNG, which premiered during Scenex22. Throughout the text, I consistently refer to the postdramatic concept as articulated by Hans-Thies Lehmann, as it highlights interesting aspects of the set designer's role in contemporary theater
Kehrä/ Kehrae : entwining possible worlds
No full textThe artistic research, Kehrä/ Kehrae is done together with Myrsky Rönkä, with significant ropes, places and spaces, creatures and histories. This paper is subtitled entwining possible worlds. It implies alternative possibilities for prevailing modern western ways to live and die and circus. There are three big questions in the air: What is the meaning of circus? What does it mean to be alive? And how could circus care (the existence of life within the earth)? The starting point was a concern about the troubling state of life and the world how it is today and how the modern western circus felt paradoxical and incapable of responding to the current times in sustainable ways. The initial question was, how to combine circus and other aspects of life into one sustainable, or regenerative and renewable practice. In order to seek other, latent realities this research goes beyond modern western circus history, beyond modern western worldview, and beyond “ordinary” circus practice. The guiding idea is: life is circus, circus is life. Therefore the practice in this research is a collection of “whatever we were doing”. To mention some with great importance: whirling, meditation, becoming-with rope, making and mapping space with ropes and strings, dwelling with nature, and sauna. The other idea is to go through liminality and evoke communitas, with circus practice, bodies, ropes, and others. This means abandoning accustomed ways to train and think about circus and life. Because of its nature, this work is also opening up what could spiritual (circus) practice mean as an alternative to a mechanistic way of thinking and making. The ontology of this research is animistic and relational, which suggests care, respect, reciprocity, and response-ability in all of our relations and takes into account the circulative nature of time and life. Animistic ontology takes materiality and skill towards the idea of becoming-with, when becoming into who and what happens in relational material-semiotic worlding. During the process, some specific features, or dwelling places for circus, emerged. Those are circus and play, circus and liminality, circus and shamanism, circus and others. In these dwelling places lies the deep powers of circus to be inversive and subversive, simultaneously transformative and sustaining: the mythical power of circus. Through the final artistic outcome Kehrä/ Kehrae, this paper is entwining the strings of the research together as a temporary gathering to be unraveled and intertwined into one again.
