Audio registration of the salon

URL

Introduction

Many performance artists work with scores or self-imposed constraints. What is Sarma’s particular interest in this matter? The research paradigm in the arts today seems very much driven by thematic interests and a traditional approach to dramaturgy. Working with scores and constraints could perhaps allow one to shift the focus again to questions of form and method, as well as to the question how these inform the production of discourse. Moreover, narrow productional frameworks and the streamlining of arts and discourse in terms of “formats” are omnipresent nowadays. Working with scores and constraints makes this relation to productional conditions to some extent explicit, so it can become a basis for self-reflection and cultural critique.

What scores and constraints are precisely is not the point of departure of this salon – their definition should be kept open and implicit, so it can gain some density and texture through nine artists speaking about how they use scores and constraints in their practice. As a basis for dialogue, nine people were asked to prepare a “statement” of ten minutes (several of them from the field of dance, others from adjacent media), guided by a few questions, shifting focus from the what to the how of scores and constraints: What do scores and constraints do precisely? How do they function and how do they effect the organisation of a working process or a performance situation? And more widely: what is their significance for today’s artistic practice and landscape?

More about Sarma salon’s

How do artists work today? How do they speak about their method? How can one make a start with documenting, discussing and sharing the hybrid and heterogeneous practices that underpin the performing arts today? How can the informal and embodied discourses, as well as the implicit knowledge they carry, find a wider recognition and accessibility? A series of monthly salons, organized by Sarma on different locations in Brussels, create a live research environment for makers and researchers to address issues of new artistic practices and discourses. And they provide the dance community with occasions for dialogue and exchange.

Annotations to the audio registration

00:00:15,58400:04:30,577

Introduction by Jeroen Peeters

All guests were asked to prepare a short statement about scores and constraints in their work. The statements and discussions happened in three clusters:

CLUSTER 1

00:04:30,57700:20:00,531

Composer and improviser Stefan Prins discusses scores in contemporary music in relation to his particular interest in the ways people relate to technology. More on Stefan Prins

00:20:00,531 00:29:36,645

Choreographer and performer Kajsa Sandström presents the sound-related work listen with your skin / see with your ear at the Working Title Platform together with Frédéric Alstadt. Though she doesn’t work with scores, she explores what this focus could mean for her artistic process.

00:29:36,64500:43:54,018

Discussion

00:43:54,01800:54:04,128

Choreographers and performers Lilia Mestre and Marcos Simoes discuss the different scores they use in their performance project Ai, which was presented during the Working Title Platform.

00:54:04,12801:13:53,083

Discussion

CLUSTER 2

01:13:53,08301:26:21,023

An Mertens is a writer and member of Constant, a Brussels-based workplace for art and media, with a particular interest in Open Source methodologies for sharing knowledge. She presents the project ! Co LAPse KoDe she is currently developing with several other people.

01:26:21,02302:02:21,544

Choreographers and performers Leslie Mannès and Manon Santkin are preparing a Performance Kit with instructions and introduce this project whilst applying a score during their talk.

CLUSTER 3

02:02:21,54402:12:43,424

Graphic designer Ellen Bilterest made the book GeorsPC, a project around “constrained design”. The latter is also the departure point for her current PhD in the arts research at the University of Leuven that seeks to rethink the book object through constrained design. More on Ellen Bilterest

02:12:43,42402:24:51,252

Choreographer and performer Sara Manente has been working with scores in her performance works Lawaai means Hawaai and Fair un Four. She discusses the role of circumstances and system failure in her work. More on Sara Manente

02:24:51,25200:00:15,584

Discussion

Audio registration of the salon

Introduction

More about Sarma salon’s

Annotations to the audio registration

00:00:15,58400:04:30,577

CLUSTER 1

00:04:30,57700:20:00,531

00:20:00,531 00:29:36,645

00:29:36,64500:43:54,018

00:43:54,01800:54:04,128

00:54:04,12801:13:53,083

CLUSTER 2

01:13:53,08301:26:21,023

01:26:21,02302:02:21,544

CLUSTER 3

02:02:21,54402:12:43,424

02:12:43,42402:24:51,252

02:24:51,25200:00:15,584

Tags

00:00:15,58400:04:30,577

00:04:30,57700:20:00,531

00:20:00,531 00:29:36,645

00:43:54,01800:54:04,128

00:54:04,12801:13:53,083

01:13:53,08301:26:21,023

01:26:21,02302:02:21,544

02:02:21,54402:12:43,424

02:12:43,42402:24:51,252

02:24:51,252