Abstracts and bios for SibA Research Days 14 March 2024
Keynote: Anita Seppä (Research Institute and Theater Academy, Uniarts Helsinki)
How to Re-tell Art and its Research in the Era of Hyperobjects?
The models for explaining art created in the modern era are in an unprecedented crisis. On the one hand, the historical canons of art studies and the ‘art world’ these canons have partly constructed, appear problematically patriarchal, white and colonialist. At the same time, our anthropocentric era is marked by new ‘hyperobjects’ (Morton), such as climate change, melting glaciers, intensifying environmental colonialism and militarism. How could art and its explorations talk about these hyper-objects that seem to surpass human perception and cognition? What kinds of new concepts and cross-disciplined frames of thought could be useful in this work? Is there a need to re-tell art and its research today? The lecture initiates thoughts on these topical issues and seeks, through dialogue with the audience, shared points of engagement to contribute to working on the subject.
Kai Alhanen
Alhanen is a researcher in political philosophy and the leader of Dialogue Academy. For over 20 years, he has been developing dialogical practices and is one of the most respected trainers of the approach in Finland and internationally. He has published books on Michel Foucault and John Dewey, as well as on the philosophy dialogue. Additionally, he has introduced innovative dialogue concepts like Timeout and National Dialogues, which have gained widespread recognition.
Tuire Kuusi
Tuire Kuusi’s main research interests are in harmony cognition. In addition, she has carried out research on musicians’ and music students’ well-being, effects of music in an individual’s life and the biological effects of musical performance and creative activities on humans. She works mainly in doctoral education.
Tuulikki Laes
Tuulikki Laes (DMus) is an academy research fellow and university researcher in socially engaged music and arts education. Her doctoral dissertation (2017) examined the ambiguity of democratic inclusion in music education. Her post-doctoral project (2019-2022) was about the transformative politics of music education in an aging society and her research topics include policy, social justice, and philosophy of music education.
Rosa Meriläinen
Rosa Meriläinen is the Secretary General for the Kulta ry, the Central Organization for Finnish Culture and Arts Associations. Its purpose is to advance the overall economic growth, operating conditions and social standing of the arts and culture industry.
Libero Mureddu (MuTri, Music Technology, Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki)
Reflections on ‘Sonic Avatars’, a performance for eight improvisers and live audiovisual projections
My research relies on (music) technology as the main tool to create the setting for my experiment-performances and material for the performers to react to. Thus, technology becomes a meta-performer separated from the human players, so that the players’ actions are performed against unpredictable, albeit programmable virtual performers. In my doctoral concerts, the widespread use of visualisation and projection of the processes, constraints, performers’ virtual bodies, the concert distribution through video recordings and online streaming platforms, is intended to create a connection between audience, performers, and their partially disembodied knowledge.
My second doctoral concert, named ’Sonic Avatars’ and performed on the 25th October 2023, consisted of four improvisers on stage performing with their ’Avatars’. The avatars are audiovisual recordings of the four players projected on screens and played back in real-time by other four improvisers, hidden from the audience. Both the players on stage and the audience could see the avatars.
With this concert I wanted to create a performative situation in which the players had to perform with an audiovisual replica of themselves, react to seeing and hearing themselves, their own language, sounds, habits and bodily behaviour. In particular, I wanted to find answer to the following questions:
- How the ’avatar’ players explored other players’ materials, and how their instrumental knowledge influenced their approach?
- How the ‘avatar’ players reacted by performing acoustic material on a digital instrument?
- How the process informed and possibly expanded the improvisatory vocabulary of the live and avatar players?
In my presentation, I will focus on the collaborative aspects emerged within the working group during the concert preparation, and present some (partial) findings from the performance analysis. Moreover, I will perform an improvisation using the material of two ‘avatars’ in duo with flautist Livia Schweizer, who performed at the doctoral concert.
Libero Mureddu is an improviser, pianist, composer, and doctoral candidate at the MuTri Doctoral school, in the Music Technology department. His research is focused on the study of the improviser’s embodied knowledge, and how this knowledge can be used to explore, understand, and develop free improvisation languages. Libero Mureddu has so far performed two doctoral concerts (‘Joy Against the Machine’ and ‘Sonic Avatars’), both characterised by an extensive use of visual and technological elements that were used in order to create experimental performative scenarios in which the human players interact with virtual performers.
Libero Mureddu has presented his research at the following conferences: ‘The Improviser’s Experience’ in Huddersfield, at the ‘Doctors in Performance 2021’ in Tallinn. He has held a comprovisation workshop at the TENOR 2022 conference in Marseille. Libero Mureddu’s doctorate is funded by the Kone Foundation.
Kristina Kuznetsova-Bogdanovitsh (Independent researcher, NGO Transforming Collective)
Transformative learning experiences and arts managers’ identity construction
In the continuously complex and fractured contemporary realities the activities that are expected to be carried out by arts managers as well as the way the profession in general in perceived has shifted tremendously. At the same time, the educational programmes – formal or informal – have only ever so slightly altered their content to fit the so called shifts in the market. Higher education institutions in particular being constrained by the curricula structures, limited ECTS (and hours), resource scarcity and so on, have to make educational choices that range from pragmatic to controversial. By exploring the experiences of arts management graduates in working life (and generally life outside academia) and the problems with existing curricula – expected competencies, learning outcomes, methodologies, courses – we aim to lay out some of the main critical mismatches. The stories collected from graduates will provide ample examples and explanations which will allow for making more philosophical as well as concrete suggestions for curricula makers and educational developers to be in more meaningful alignement with worklife and society in general.
Kristina Kuznetsova-Bogdanovitsh. I defended my PhD thesis in Arts management in the Sibelius Academy University of the Arts Helsinki in 2022. My doctoral research focussed on knowledge management in arts universities and the role that entrepreneurial mindset and education can have on the these processes. I am particularly interested on the knowledge management and dynamics intersection between individual and collective levels within organizations. Currently, I am an independent researcher, creative entrepreneur and co-founder in the think tank and consultancy transformingcollective.com
Livia Schweizer (MuTri, Global Music, Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki)
A text score to access the role of the performer-improviser and as resource to expand creativity.
Can a text score serve as gate to enter in contact with one own creative voice and simultaneously carry the potential to encourage collaborative artistic dialogue?
In this presentation the question is explored through an autoethnographic approach, taking as an example my process as a flutist/researcher when working with a text score. In this case the selected score is Pauline Oliveros’ ‘Thirteen changes’; a text-based piece written in 1986 in where to the performer are given only thirteen short and evocative texts, without any indication on how the pieces should actually sound. The score asks implicitly to performer to find their own way to approach and play the piece, and the piece can be seen as invitation for the performer to enter in contact with their improviser/composer side.
In the presentation I will perform selected parts of my own interpretation of the piece, and I will share a few examples of how the work done with the texts helped me to nourish my performer-improviser side and connected me with aspects of my embodied musical knowledge.
Sharing parts of my own process as performer-researcher with the texts, my aim is to underline how a certain kind of individual work done with this type of ‘non-conventional music notation’ can be used also as a frame for collaborative projects and artistic dialogues between musicians, artists and communities sharing different backgrounds.
Livia Schweizer. I am a flutist, improvisor, educator and artistic researcher based in Helsinki. In fall 2023 I started my path as doctoral candidate in the Arts Study Program at MuTri Doctoral School, within the Global Music Department. My research and artistic work revolves around the topic of how graphic scores and text scores can be used to foster interdisciplinary and intercultural collaborations in contemporary music. As flutist I have been artist in residence in 2021 at the Old Mine Residency in Outokumpu (Finland) and at Villa Karo in Grand-Popo (Benin). In 2021 I got my master’s degree in flute and music pedagogy at the Sibelius Academy (University of the Arts), with minors in early music and contemporary music. In 2019 I have been flute exchange student at the University of Southern California in Jim Walker’s class and before moving to Finland, in 2013 I graduated from the conservatory P.Mascagni of Livorno in Italy.
Elena Mindru-Turunen (MuTri, Jazz, Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki)
Melodic variation in vocal jazz: Analysis of the “second head” tradition in jazz standard singing
This presentation will be about the new topic of my research, which outlines the characteristics of the second head in jazz standards from a vocal perspective. It creates a knowledge base of practical (melodic, harmonic, dynamic, phrasing, articulating) and aesthetic descriptors for both academic and practical purposes.
The second head refers to the subsequent time when the melody with the same lyrics is presented, paraphrased, with a common practice of adding variations or embellishments to the original melody. This creates a sense of continuity and connection to the piece’s main theme, the head. Jazz singers often use this method to add their personal touch and improvisational mastery to a standard tune, while keeping the melody recognizable all the way. This “varied melody” can include changes in pitches, rhythm, phrasing, dynamics, or ornamentation. Performers might play around with the timing of notes, add grace notes, slides, trills, or experiment with different articulations of the syllables of the lyric, to make the melody more expressive, more interesting and to reinterpret the lyric from their own point of view. The second head allows jazz singers to personalize widely recognized jazz standards while maintaining the essence of the original composition – the composer’s point of view.
I have opted to refer to this practice in jazz as the “second head” in the context of my doctoral research, after conducting interviews with several accomplished contemporary jazz singers, such as Judy Niemack, Benny Benack III or Janis Siegel (The Manhattan Transfer). The concept is closely tied to the improvisational nature of jazz music. It allows musicians, including vocalists, to demonstrate their creativity while still retaining the core structure and themes of the original composition. This practice contributes to the richness and diversity of jazz performances and showcases the artist’s individuality within a standard jazz song.
Internationally acclaimed jazz singer Elena Mindru has enlivened the Finnish music scene for over a decade with her charismatic performance. She was awarded Second Place and the Audience Prize at the Montreux Shure Voice Competition in Switzerland in 2012, by the legendary producer Quincy Jones. Since then, her career has been on the upswing. Originally from Romania, the singer resides in Finland, performing all over the world, both with her group and as a soloist of symphony orchestras and big bands. Elena has released six albums as a bandleader and has been performing for the last 20 years in the USA, France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Belarus, Hungary, Slovakia, Switzerland, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, and Finland.
Hanna Backer Johnsen (MuTri, Music Education, Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki)
Student voices in dialogue? Adolescents’ experiences from a social innovation in the music school field
This presentation raises questions of taken-for-granted assumptions of saving vulnerable groups of young people through music, an assumption that seem to follow and legitimate socially driven music education programs and their participants. Instead of leaning towards the salvation narratives (Baker, 2021), this presentation approaches the question of dialogue from the perspective of the students themselves by examining the findings of a study on adolescents´ experiences in Floora, a social innovation within the Finnish music education system. Floora aims to provide new access strategies for children and young people from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds into music schools. Data has been generated through interviews with the participating adolescents in Floora and analysed through the lens of narrative inquiry (Chase 2018). The study shows how students’ experiences of regular music tuition do not necessarily fit into a narrative of being saved through music. It also points at the complexity of the matter and the different ways students wants to be in dialogue with their surrounding world. This requires responsibility and sensitivity towards how we engage with, practice, and speak about learning and learning environments. In addition, it raises questions about how music school institutions today can be meaningful for young people from socially and culturally diverse backgrounds and the importance of dialogue, not only between the students and the teachers, but in relation to society and the environment. Shedding light on the experiences of students, the presentation offers critical knowledge for the potential for social justice and for more socially sustainable practices within music school institutions by arguing that salvation narratives in music education may stand in the way for more inclusive practices and a continuous dialogue in and with the world.
Hanna Backer Johnsen is a doctoral researcher at the University of the Arts Helsinki/Sibelius Academy at the Department of Music Education, Jazz and Folk Music. Her research interests include social justice and equity in music education, especially with a focus on young people and families who are newcomers in the Finnish music school system. Before her doctoral studies she worked as the executive director of the Martin Wegelius Institute and she has a long experience from the music education field as an administrator and music project manager. She holds a master’s degree in Musicology (Åbo Akademi University) and is currently a member of the European PICMe Network (Partners for Institutional Change in Music Education).
Timo Tähkänen (The Academy of Fine Arts, Uniarts Helsinki)
Drag Story Time
The story time is held by visual artist Timo Tähkänen’s drag alter ego Maimu Brushwood. She tells the story of a child who was bullied at school and who became a doctoral student later. In her speech, she reflects on the importance of language in dialogue and suggests pedagogical love or sharing cinnamon rolls as a solution.
Timo Tähkänen is a visual and performance artist, an art pedagogue and a first-year doctoral student (2023->) in The University of the Arts Helsinki, The Academy of Fine Arts. In their research, they ask how listening other in a queer body affects their artistic practise and what kind of information listening and the works of art created during the process produce. They obtained an MA in Fine Art at the Academy of Fine Art (Finland) in 2014. They graduated as a visual artist from the University of Applied Sciences of South-Karelia (Finland) in 2007. Their artistic research is supported by the Kone Foundation
Cecilia Oinas (Music Theory, Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki)
Suomi, Solitude, Sibelius, and Saariaho: Sonic Bridges Uniting the Pianist and Singer Together in Sibelius’s “En slända” and Saariaho’s “Parfum de l’instant”
Both Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) and Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023) were fond of creating novel timbral blendings between voice and instruments. This lecture recital discusses one such example, namely when singer and pianist are united by pitch-based unisons in performance. I call the phenomenon “sonic bridges”, which metaphorically “bridges” two parts together sonically and performatively. As a case study, I will examine Sibelius’s song “En slända” (Leventin) op. 17, no. 5 (1904), and Saariaho’s song “Parfum de l’instant” (Maalouf) from the song cycle Quatre instants (2002).
In both songs the piano and vocal part are often performed without the presence of the other. One of the reasons for this may be the fact that both songs depict solitude and yearning: in Sibelius, it is the “slända” (dragonfly) that the protagonist is longing, in Saariaho it is the absent loved one the protagonist dreams about when she closes her eyes – like Clémence in Saariaho’s opera L’Amour de loin (2000). Yet the sonic bridge moments at the moments of juncture place the two performers in close musical, and possibly emotional, proximity. Therefore, I suggest that pitch-based unison moments not only create a unique timbral character for both songs but also provide a way for the singer and pianist to empathize and bond with each other in performance.
To conclude, I argue that despite composed in different times – almost one hundred years apart – there is a considerable similarity between Sibelius’s and Saariaho’s way of writing sonic bridges in these two songs. The presentation will end with live performances of “En slända” and “Parfum de l’instant”.
Singer in the lecture recital: soprano Hanna Chorell
Dr Cecilia Oinas is a Finnish-Hungarian music theory lecturer, music scholar and classical pianist from the University of the Arts Helsinki Sibelius Academy. Her current research focuses on music analysis, performance and various modes of communication in chamber music. As an active pianist, she is particularly interested in collaborating with other musicians, often presenting her research in lecture-recital format. Cecilia has published articles in journals such as Music Theory Online, Music & Practice, SMT-V, Music Performance Research, and Musik-Konzepte and actively given conference presentations and lecture recitals in numerous countries, including US, Canada, Austria, Russia, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, UK, Italy, Estonia, Poland, Singapore, Croatia, and Finland.
Gian Luigi Biagini (Aalto University, Independent artist and researcher)
Critical Urban intervention as dialogue with the city
The global capitalist design modulates the space-time of cities, generating standardization of habits, sensibilities and atmospheres in a utopia of alienated conformism defined as normality. The urban intervention acts through a performance-installation action to tear apart conformism through symbolic, critical, parodic and aesthetic disruption to unleash an event of radical otherness that opens an aesthetic, political and social dialogue. My presentation is divided into 3 phases: a) brief explanation of the motivation that led me to carry out urban interventions as a migrant and “liminoid” to resolve a conflict between two worlds with a avatar. b) quick overview of some interventions to help understand the variety of strategic interventions in relation to the specific city, culture, atmosphere and capitalist contradictions. c) focus on my latest article published at the end of 2023 on Ruukku in the issue concerning “Artivism” which presents an interactive intervention in Helsinki in the square of the Central Train Station inspired by Paul Virilio’s book City of Panic.
My interventions often present a dystopia as a counter-spectacle to the utopia of capitalist normality through the modification of the functions and atmosphere of a commodified space. They want to stimulate a sensitive and thinking citizenry through a reflection on the capitalist shadow. The idea is to put the capitalist city in contact with its own antagonistic otherness in an embodied living space without wanting to propose other utopian models because from my point of view this does not belong to the dimension of art. In fact, in my opinion the word “artivism”, if it has any meaning, is not that of doing activism through art but has a different meaning and posture from that of “activism”. My utopia is a utopia of the Polis which is actualized in the very moment that I propose my provocation and open a dialogue as living direct democracy.
My name is Gian Luigi Biagini. I am 54 years old and have been experimenting with art and artistic research for about 30 years. In 2011 I moved from Italy to Helsinki where I started my practice of critical urban interventions. I have a master’s degree in political science, one in communication and media, one in creative writing from the University of Florence and a PhD in art from Aalto University. Thanks to grants I have been able to carry out my critical urban interventions in many cities around the world. I have published around 11 papers and participated in many conferences and presentations of my practice in universities, cultural centers and residencies. I am prepared on the theory that concerns my interventions and on the practical experience that is expressed in the disruptive performance, installation (and muti-modal movie) that open a critical, paradoxical, aesthetic dialogue with the city. In the end of 2023 I have given a presentation to AOR 2023 and published an article on Ruukku. I wish to make my practice and ideas known also to UNIARTS to open a dialogue with people who do not know me. Thanks.
Lilja Lehmuskallio (MuTri, Arts Management, Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki)
Reshaping Representations: Strategic and intersectional construction of representations in arts organisations
National art organisations are at the forefront of societal development as gatekeepers of our past and present representations. They have the means and the power to construct inclusive, intersectional and decolonial identity representations, reflecting the current development of the diversifying societies.
In my multidisciplinary doctoral study Reshaping Representations: Strategic and intersectional construction of representations in arts organisations (2022->, monograph), I am asking whether the societal change considering the diversification of Finnish population and identities is reflected in arts organisations of national authority in a strategic and curatorial level, and what are the strategic and curatorial decision-making-processes which lead to inclusive programming, decolonial practices and non-discrimination? How does an art organisation with national authority participate in the construction of inclusive, decolonial, and intersectional representations? Which type of policies would support this development?
The research operates in the areas of arts management, cultural policy, feminist institutionalism, and critical heritage studies. The thematic framework includes representation theory, decoloniality, intersectionality, and cultural citizenship.
The increased knowledge and effects of intersectional feminism, indigenous rights, decolonisation, #me-too, trans and disability justice and the Black Lives Matter movement have brought elements and examples of structural oppression and racism to the societal discussion which penetrate entire societal systems and have led to reactions both in everyday life and at the policy level. In the era of growing globalisation, post-nationalism, and the mass-movement of people across borders it can be asked how national arts organisations can still maintain their relevance. To examine such a complex process as the representation of an identity theoretically and systematically is a challenge, especially as there are so many variables comprising an identity. Intersectional analysis can be used as a tool in the reconstruction processes of representations.
In this presentation, I will shed light on how the process of implementing intersectional analysis and adapting activist approaches in the context of a national museum can participate in decolonising and diversifying the representations the museum presents and displays. I will refer to my article Repositioning power and privilege: Implementing intersectionality and adapting activist approaches in a museum (in Simjanovska & Karjalainen, 2022) to go through the methodology of my doctoral research process.
Lilja Lehmuskallio (MA in Arts Management, MA in Dance Performance) is a doctoral researcher in Arts Management at Sibelius Academy, creative producer and a former contemporary dancer. At the core of Lehmuskallio’s work and research are ethical and sustainable working conditions in the arts, intercultural communication, cultural policy, and feminist and anti-racist practices. Lehmuskallio believes that through intersectional examination in the arts and cultural fields we can create strong policies and diverse organisations which are credible and resilient actors in the fight against polarisation and the rise of the far-right in today’s societies.
Katri A. Keskinen (MuTri, Music Education, Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki)
Professionalism in Popular Music Voice Teaching: Navigating Academic Structures and Societal Changes
This presentation examines how academic gatekeeping and institutional structures shape the development of popular music voice teaching as a professional discipline. Contextual and cultural differences, often disregarded in research biased towards the Anglo-American perspective, contribute to potential distortions influenced by academic hierarchies and individual dispositions. These distortions in how professionalism is understood may diverge from the practical needs of future professionals, posing challenges to competency development and evoking questions about the relevance of current education. To address these issues, the presentation highlights the importance of acknowledging societal changes in higher music education, emphasizing the necessity for adaptability to remain relevant in evolving work markets. Drawing insights from a systematic review on popular music voice teaching as well as Finnish and Swedish case studies on voice teacher education instances, this presentation aims to shed light on the complexities of professionalism in popular music education. The objective is to encourage a reconsideration of current approaches, urging alignment with the evolving demands and dialogue with the ‘real world.’
Katri A. Keskinen is a doctoral researcher at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki. She graduated from the music education department at the Sibelius Academy in 2013 specializing in, e.g., popular music voice pedagogy and choral conducting. She has also studied songwriting, arranging and music production at Berklee College of Music. Her research interests include the effects of societal changes and expanding professionalism in music teaching professions, higher education curricula and educational leadership, popular music education, and voice pedagogy. Her work has been published in music education journals and presented in various conferences in Europe and the United States.
Kaisa Johanna Vähi (MuTri, Music Education, Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki)
Music schools’ curricular development in post-Soviet Estonia: Advocating for more inclusive and learner-centred instrumental education
Since Estonia’s re-independence in 1991, the former Soviet Socialist Republic has transformed into a technologically advanced member of the European Union known for its students’ high scores on the PISA test. However, there is little information on Estonia’s extracurricular music education, as similarly to several other former Eastern Bloc countries, research on vocal/instrumental education is uncommon in Estonia, creating disparities between formal and non-formal education. Due to little previous research on that topic the sustainability of Estonian music school system, and instrumental tuition’s ability to adapt to the ongoing integration and migration crises is uncertain. The existing studies show a concerning lack of awareness on non-formal learning’s potential in contributing to social cohesion, and a great contrast between the society’s expectations and the hobby school’s readiness to involve children from socially diverse backgrounds. Furthermore, music schools’ inability to provide engaging education is illustrated by students’ drop-out rates reaching up to 91%.
Currently in its early-stages, this doctoral research project is one of the first that aims to fill the knowledge gap concerning the learning conditions of the 12,000 students who study in the 7-year programmes of Estonian public music schools, many of which were founded during the Soviet occupation. This presentation introduces an analysis of 86 music schools’ curricula exploring how the country’s political regime change reflects in Estonian music schools, and how music schools’ curricula relate to the learner-centred strategic goals of Estonian education.
Kaisa Johanna Vähi is an Estonian violinist, teacher, and doctoral researcher at Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki. Her current research project investigates how the vocal/instrumental tuition in Estonia’s numerous public music schools has adapted to the country’s transition from communism to democracy, and the sustainability of such system in context of the transforming needs of the society. Having been involved with different music schools for almost her entire life both as a student and as a teacher, she is advocating for learner-centred pedagogies to increase the accessibility of an engaging vocal/instrumental education in Estonia. She is also a founding member of the non-governmental organisation Lesson to Lesson, which aims at promoting practical knowledge on smart learning as well as teacher and student well-being in various educational settings.
Tuulikki Laes & Taru Koivisto (MuTri, Music Education, Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki)
Performing the Political: Public Pedagogy in Higher Music Education
In this presentation, we introduce the four-year academy project funded by the Finnish Research Council that examines the notion of the ‘political’ in music professionalism. The project is conducted in the Nordic higher music education contexts and with the students, teachers, and leaders of the Sibelius Academy. Through artistic-pedagogical interventions and participatory processes, the project aims to construct new practices for music professionalism and visions for responsible higher music education that is significant to society.
Tuulikki Laes is an Academy Research Fellow and holds a permanent position as a university researcher at the University of the Arts Helsinki. She also teaches and supervises at the MuTri Doctoral School. Tuulikki holds a doctoral degree in music education and her research interests include policy, higher education, and systems thinking. As an academic entrepreneur and activist, she is driven by the power of music and the arts to tackle societal challenges. Currently, she is leading an Academy Fellowship project, “Performing the Political – Public Pedagogy in Higher Music Education” (The Research Council of Finland 2023-2027). She has over 25 peer-reviewed publications in international
journals and books. Her most recent upcoming publication is a co-edited book with Gert Biesta and Heidi Westerlund, “The Transformative Politics of Music Education” (Routledge).
Taru Koivisto (DMus) is a post-doctoral researcher in music education and a music therapist. Her doctoral dissertation (2022) examined expanding music professionalism in the Finnish healthcare system. Her research interests include cultural diversity, creative wellbeing and social justice.
Nina Liebenberg (University of the Arts, Helsinki)
Breathing lessons: curatorship as a tool for communicating across disciplines
This short presentation and small in-situ display explores breathing as it occurs in plants and humans by drawing together objects and texts from diverse research environments. Materials sourced from the Viikki Plant Sciences Centre (University of Helsinki), the HUS hospital museum collections, and the Luomus Herbarium, are combined with artworks, texts, and objects from Uniarts Fine Art and Sibelius Academy researchers. Curatorship is shown as a means to highlight the wider resonance of these objects and texts and, through its use of analogy, suggestion, visual quotation and affect, encouraging interdisciplinary dialogues and empathic engagement for more-than-human worlds.
Nina Liebenberg is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Uniarts, Helsinki. Her project, Planthology, explores human and plant relationships and uses curatorship to convene diverse disciplinary perspectives on this theme. She is interested in disciplinary object collections of all kinds (from herbariums and musical instruments, to pathological specimens and geological collections) and how subjecting these materials to various curatorial strategies can surface occluded histories, and generate resonances that extend beyond how they are understood in their host departments.
Sasha Mäkilä (Research Institute, University of the Arts Helsinki)
Orchestras, Conductors, and Sustainability
This presentation delves into the eco-ethical dimensions of orchestral practices, specifically focusing on conductor training. Evaluating the environmental impact of orchestras, we consider energy use, travel, and venue implications. While acoustic music is eco-friendly, associated activities like musician and audience travel pose challenges.
The discussion spotlights conductor mobility, questioning the need for frequent international flights. We explore alternatives, like prioritizing local talent and reconsidering extensive tours. The presentation examines conductor education, using Sibelius Academy as a case study. We suggest broadening curricula to include diverse genres and preparing conductors for roles beyond major orchestras.
Challenging the notion that success equates solely to prestigious orchestra appointments, we advocate for a realistic view of the profession. We propose that conductors’ impact on musicians’ well-being be emphasized in training.
In conclusion, we advocate for a paradigm shift in conductor training, favoring sustainability, diversity, and holistic development. This presentation invites reflection on how the conductor’s role can extend beyond the orchestra to positively impact musicians and the environment.
Dr Sasha Mäkilä is a Visiting Researcher at the Research Institute at the University of the Arts Helsinki. The focus of his research is the orchestral music of the Finnish composer Leevi Madetoja. Mäkilä’s other research interests include the technique and pedagogy of conducting, conductorship, and Russian music culture.