Sonic Probing: An Artistic Research Practice

Presenter: Robert Willim (Lund University

Abstract

I will take the point of departure in the live-improvised performance Fields of Unknowing, and how it was performed at the Intonal festival in 2024. I will briefly present the concept behind the performance and how it relates to my research and the method called probing. I won’t be able to present the whole 30 min. performance during the meeting. But if you who will participate want to check out a recording of the performance beforehand at this link.

In Fields of Unknowing, rough and mesmeric sonic worlds are evoked in a live improvised set that mixes storytelling with electronic soundscapes. It is based on simple waveforms, sounds from site-specific recordings, electromagnetic fields and meandering feedback loops. These sounds are mixed with manipulated vocals and storytelling. It encourages the listener to simultaneously drift away and to meditate on the role of emerging technologies that gradually are made paradoxically both banal and uncanny. Through performances such as Fields of Unknowing, I mix sound with storytelling to explore imaginaries, technologies, and our relations to the incomprehensible. Fields of Unknowing is related to the concept Mundania.