This thesis consists of two parts, a written artistic research process description and an artistic part, comprising the participation with my work Väre in the group exhibition Unfold, held at Finish Museum of Photography, and solo exhibition proposal of Väre as a multimodal project.
This text describes the exploration of the use of photography as a mean of transformation between music and image. An investigation of the possibility of trans-sensory perception is carried out throughout this process and resulting works, in the fields of photography, video, contemporary dance and audiovisual performance.
The artistic research narration drives this text, divided into three parts. In the first one, The meaning of väre a singular perceptual experience, that gave rise to this project is described. The basic principles of sound, water and light from the perspective of wave motion are introduced to present the experimental process followed to transform music vibration on photographic images through water and reflected light. A correlation between the wave behaviour of matter at the particle level is proposed as a metaphor for trans-sensory perception.
In the second part of this text, Instruments for a visible music, a historical overview of instruments conceived to express music visually is presented, navigating later through a selection of works from contemporary works on the transformation of sound into an image using water as a medium. The description of a method and an instrument to create photographic visual music is interlaced with the images produced. The concepts of time, music, improvisation and synaesthetic experiences are analysed, framed in the artistic research process. The participation in the Unfold exhibition is presented at the end of this chapter.
The last section, Väre over space and time is traversed by the notion of embodied subject and its perceptual implications, expressed in experiences of contemporary dance performance experience, and audiovisual performance. The artistic process is integrated into the work, presenting the totality of Väre project as a multimodal experience consisting of photographic and video installations, presented at the end of this last chapter.
This text concludes by deliberating on the process and resulting work, pondering on the dimensions of transformation and integration present throughout this project.
