Countdown to the Forum Artistic Research

It is less than a month to the first Forum Artistic Research hosted at the Gustav Mahler Private University for Music (GMPU) in Klagenfurt, a joint effort by GMPU and simularr. Originally conceived as a major milestone of the research project, we opened up its theme to topics that resonated with the kind of collaborations we investigate in simularr, from ecological and more-than-human perspectives to the challenges and opportunities of interdisciplinary work, succinctly captured in the title “listen for beginnings”.

Based on an open call, twenty-seven contributions come from various countries and authors with a large variety of disciplines and backgrounds—freelance artists, early career and established researchers. The programme is framed by two invited keynotes: On day one, Trond Lossius focuses on sound practices—connecting thus to a new research focus on Sound and Intermedia at GMPU—and on day two, simularr advisory board member Emma Cocker focuses on collaboration—the main focus of simularr which is presented as a panel discussion during the day. In the panel, the core team is joined by artists-researchers that worked with us during its pilot run (Shane Finan: Swap Space, 2022) and the first two intervals (Charlotta Ruth: spring 2023, Fulya Uçanok: spring 2024).