Creation as experiment – Poiesis as research
„Philosophers until now have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” (Karl Marx)
Abstract
There is a lack of personal experiences and knowledge beyond books in parts of musicology and other art and media studies. Theoretical discourses about theoretical discourses and waves of quotations reign. Strictly analytical thinking is favored over combining it with making. Sealed off from experiments and actions, relevant perspectives and approaches are neglected or unnecessarily limited. Contrasting this, I will explore the possibilities and chances of experimental making processes as an additional poietical form of research, just having a go, not knowing what the outcome might be, and even more important acting oneself. This will be achieved through creating artifacts, systems and situations, utilizing practice research and autoethnography, while drawing my main examples from visual arts, musical instrument building, experimental music and teaching.
keywords – autoethnography, experiment, practice research, pragmatism, poiesis, cybernetics, artifacts
| birth – death | learning new things |
- strange, forgotten and speculative musical instruments
- ‘obsolete’ media and technologies
- generative systems for sound and visuals
- inclusive and non-abstract approaches to music
- pragmatic philosophies of ‘artificial intelligence’
- The case of tampico at Oxford University: Materiality and Meaning of Musical Instruments – june-27-30-2024 (talk)
- Rückkopplung als Material und Methode at EvH RWL Bochum – june-4-2024 (talk/workshop)
- Poiesis as research at IAMAS Institute of Advanced Media Art and Sciences – february-13-2024 (talk)
- Ungehörte Geschichte(n) – Streichklaviere des Deutschen Museums at Deutsches Museum: Arbeitskreis Forschung – february-06-2024 (online talk)
- ki macht schule?! at KHM: other minds – lecture series #2 – june-29-2023 (seminar)
- feedback sounds at KHM: ground zero – summer semester 2023 (seminar/workshop)
- lofi sampler/looper at KHM: ground zero – summer semester 2023 (seminar/workshop)
- cassette loop…cassette loop…cassette loop… at KHM: ground zero – winter semester 2022/23 (seminar/workshop)
- meta matter(s) no. 5 at ZKM: next generation 9.0 – june-22-2022 (talk/performance)
- experiments and/as improvisations at KHM: Artistic research – in the wild – may-27-2022 (seminar)
- hidden sounds at KHM: ground zero – winter semester 2021/22 (seminar/workshop)
- (20.5.-20.7.2024) Scholar in residence at Deutsches Museum Munich (residency + scholarship)
- (5.2.-3.5.2024) Guest researcher at IAMAS Institute for Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (residency)
- (15.9.-15.12.2023) Scholar in residence at Deutsches Museum Munich (residency + scholarship)
- (2.7.-4.8.2023) Reverse engineering and experimental archaeology at Greifenberg Institute of Organology (residency)
- (3.7.-15.7.2022) The poetics of making at Palazzo Ricci – European Academy of Music and Performing Arts (residency + workshop)
- (in preparation) Baudet – The Piano-Quatuor and its maker in 19th century Paris, DM Studies, Munich: Deutsches Museum Verlag.
- (in print) “Max Ainmiller und sein Orpheon”, Musik in Bayern, München: Allitera Verlag.
- (in preparation) “KI und Schule”, in Trogemann G. (ed.) Menschliches und maschinelles Lernen, Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.
- (in preparation) „Vorurteile über Bias“, in Trogemann G. (ed.) Menschliches und maschinelles Lernen, Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.
- (in print) “What is it like to create a bow – Poiesis as research”, in Trogemann G. (ed.) Dealing with the unknown, Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.
- (2024) “Wilhelm Uebelacker – (Nicht nur) Erbauer eines neuen Musikinstruments”, Deutsches Museum Munich.
- (2023) “meta matters no. 5”, KHM Magazin #1, pp. 95-100.
- (2022) “Creation as experiment – A pragmatic approach to being in the world”, in Trogemann, G. and Butz, K. (eds.) In the making. Cologne: Academy of Media Arts, pp. 17-47.
- (2022) “Experiment and expectation – Exploring the social life of ink dots”, in Trogemann, G. and Butz, K. (eds.) In the making. Cologne: Academy of Media Arts, pp. 49-56.
- (2022) “The end of copyright”, Montepulciano Journal – The poetics of making, pp. 99-105.
Christian Rust
c.rust@khm.de