Al's xpub2

XPUB2 research, thesis & project

0_ Research & prep

Preparations for XPUB2 that started during my first year:

In order to help myself learn how to document (better) and how to do a (proper) research, I joined Harma Staal's workshop at the Research Station: Tagging Topics (20/03/2022). She offered a way to do research using tagging and thinking of topics in tags. The purpose is to narrow down the content - from chaos to focus.

With this approach, the researchers are invited to connect their work and interests with other makers. (maker is now my new favourite word) As artists, we want to speak about perspectives, opinions, notions. Not truths.

Research is not about reading books. It starts with your making. Then, document it, reflect on it, talk about it. Share your knowledge and make new knowledge. When you talk about things you found out, makes them relevant.

Share that with image and text.

Discover my interests and map them

I started with quite broad topics and put them on the board. The next steps was to sort them out and put into groups. Whilst doing that, I identified three main groups of tags that once combined, can create a single project.

main tags to connect:
[topics]
[media/medium]
[environment]

additional ones:
[approach]
[personal experiences]
[feelings]

[Homework] to elaborate on 2-3 topics
In order to do that, I made this Mural board.

[For XPUB2] to identify which topics are interesting for me to research more (and get happily lost into the Rabbit Hole)

Summer Experiments

Following the format of Special Issue #18, I would like to challenge myself to continue with 1 or 2-weekly small experiments (contributions) on my own (or in collaborations) in order to test some quick master project ideas. The idea is to pick a topic of my interest, a read and do a small experiment in the mood of Radio Implicancies. To create an extended gallery over the Summer that might help me find my project of XPUB2. [fingers crossed, hehe]
[concept] mix [topic] + [format] = summarise in a tiny [zine]
▶ summer experiments pad
▶ Summer Experiments wiki

1_ Proposal work

XPUB2 is about creating a balance between making and writing. In order to find out what my master project will be about, i am both following the process, facilitated by the XPUB tutors, and researching tools, methods and topics i am personally interested in. Here are some tools proposed during sessions; and some research and exercises i've been doing on my own:

_interview // activity by Graduate Seminar // 22-sep-2022

▶ interviews with Mitsa [xpub] & Veere [lb] pad

▶ interview highlights

highlights from last year: documentation [wiki love], sound publication, diffractive live mixing, facilitation of sound publication as a method;
issue: overwhelmed by possibilities;
things i'd like to mix: performing; sound installation; sound publication; illustration; zines; mapping; collective experiences; orchestra jamming; documentation of the project
questioning: what should be the topic of the research? or should there be no topic, but method/format experiments?
note to self: include being the coordinator of Room for sound in the project.

Our research has started with the facilitation of sound jams and it explores various directions simultaneously. The sound jams are part of the process of creating a collective sound publication. Each jam reflects on a particular topic and explores participants' reactions to it through sound-making. The jams in our understanding are moments of listening and responding, open to people with or without musical training.

2_ Prototyping

our prototyping classes during XPUB2 are divided in three main categories: M&Ms are mornings when members of the group are facilitating a session to share their research and get feedback; individual tutorials for feedback and additional help by Manetta & Joseph; and focus groups - small groups research and exercises of topics/methods of interest. My documentations on a weekly basis comes here:

▶▶ Weekly: XPUB2 prototyping - Ål Nik documentation

personal prototyping interests:

_pure data for music instruments // learning from sratch
_wikimedia for practice documentation // setting up on my server
_hosting my own mailing list // no more Mailchimp!
_web to print

3_ Thesis

▶▶ Al's XPUB2 thesis outline
The thesis outline was finalised and submitted on 18-11-2022.

▶▶ Al's XPUB2 thesis
The thesis was submitted on 14-04-2023.

4_ Project

Sound Jams
Sound Jams: Deluxe Edition gathers five collectively made sonic publications and their visual elaborations within the walls of a CD case. It aims at inspiring practitioners to play with different methods for including sound in their research and artistic practice. This bubblication in a rectangle form collects the outcomes of facilitated group experiences of sound-making and publishing.

facilitated sound jams

There were 5 sound jams that I facilitated to conduct my master's research:
▶ sound jams: reversed words // 3~4-2023 // open online call
▶ sound jams: resister at worm // 12-2-2023 // worm, rotterdam
▶ sound jams: transverse atlantis // 16~20-1-2023 // willem de kooning academy, rotterdam
▶ sound jams: what do books say? // 17-10-2022 // leeszaal, rotterdam
▶ sound jams: m&m at pzi // 10-10-2022 // piet zwart institute, rotterdam

Room for Sound

[tba]

PZI Archipelago

I worked at the team of PZI Archipelago between June 2022 and January 2023 (I was kicked out because wdka couldn't pay me as a volunteer due to my Room for Sound student assistant contract). My main motivation was to continue publishing the regular master students' newspaper the Piet and to support the team in organising workshops and shared moments. As part of my work there, I support the process of publishing the Piet (getting contributions, designing, illustration, printing, folding, and distributing). We work on the Piet together with Emma. I also organise the schedule of workshops facilitated by us. Documenting some of the events, supporting the Open Days at PZI, and doing some graphic design, illustrations etc. are also things I do at the Archipelago. Here are a few highlights of my work there:

The Piet

The Piet // Issue 7 // december 2022

_december 2022 // edition units 250
newspaper layout // al nik (alexandra nikolova)
header & illustrations // al nik (alexandra nikolova)
contributors // emma prato, agata sznurkowska, stephen kerr, kamo, gersande schellinx, chaeyoung kim, al nik, zoraïma hupkes
printed // at wdka rotterdam
paper // kasaka
typefaces // panic, big caslon, courier prime, phosphate, cutive mono, cabin sketch, oswald, eb garamond, big caslon, american typewriter

Documentation

2022-11-22 // build your own tools by Emma // photographing the workshop
▶ photos of the workshop