The Smartphone as a Performance Tool in Composition and Sound Art
Since the introduction of the smartphone in the first decade of the 21st century, a wide range of experimental art forms have emerged that incorporate and explore the possibilities offered by this technology. The present research project investigates the potential of the smartphone as a performance tool in composition. The focus is on the technical possibilities as well as the artistic and aesthetic dimensions of smartphones in compositional practice.
A smartphone is a multifunctional communication medium and a powerful, wireless, networked, handy, weatherproof computer. It is an intensively used device in today's society. In technical terms, it implements loudspeakers, a microphone, display, light, sensors and network connections. These potentials of smartphones open up possibilities for compositional processes and performative situations.
My research questions are: What musical artworks have been created with the inclusion of smartphones? How do these artworks utilise the technological possibilities of the smartphone? How can we categorise these applications? How can analysing the existing and continuously evolving corpus of artworks influence one's own artistic practice and vice versa?
The research method includes a corpus analysis according to the following procedure: Contextualisation: Relevant musical works since 2007 are reviewed and collected. Based on this, smartphone usage categories in compositions are defined. Works are analysed according to these categories. A questionnaire is developed for the content analysis. Expert interviews applying qualitative content analysis according to Mayring are conducted for specific artworks. Results are presented in independent texts, accompanied by tables, graphics, photos and annotated videos. Scientific and corpus-analytical findings are incorporated into the artistic side of the project. The knowledge gained from compositional practice will flow into the analysis of relevant works of art.
First supervisor: Univ. Prof. Dr Volkmar Klien, ABPU
Second supervisor: Dr Thomas Gartmann, Hochschule der Künste Bern
Biography
Lara Stanic is a musician, composer, and media and performance artist. She was born and raised in Belgrade in former Yugoslavia and lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland. She studied classical music at the Musikhochschule Zürich and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Bern/Biel and graduated with a concert and teaching diploma in flute. This was followed by the “Open Music Diploma” with a focus on new music theatre and performance art as well as the “Music and Media Art/Sound Arts” diploma at the Bern University of the Arts.
Lara Stanic works as a composer and performer in the fields of contemporary music, electronic music, sound art, music theater and performance art. She develops stage performances and composes for soloists, ensembles and electronics. The combination of digital media with the bodies of musicians and the classical concert situation are frequent themes in her work. In her experiments with electronics, she tries to give technology a playful effect. By using modern media, Stanic often gives classical concert situations an unexpected twist.
Stanic is co-founder of the GingerEnsemble. The composer-performer ensemble focuses on historically informed performance practice of experimental electronic music. As a flautist and composer, Stanic is a member of the ensemble metanoia, Zurich, as well as the ensemble Funkloch, which presents the concert series “FunklochOnAir” with radio broadcasts on Radio Lora Zurich.
Lara Stanic was a long-standing board member and president of IGNM Zurich. She is currently president of the board of the IFMZ “Initiative freie Musikszene Zürich” and on the board of SME Schweizer Musikedition. Lara Stanic teaches flute and is a lecturer for the module “Performing New Technologies” in the Master Contemporary Arts Practice at the Bern University of the Arts.