Audiovisual Installation as Ecological Performativity

• Teresa Marie Connors

(long paper)

Keywords: Audiovisual Installation; Ecological Performativity; Agency; New Materialism; Systems Theory; Ontology; Autopoiesis; Cognition; Interconnectedness; Practice-based research.

This paper stems from my practice-based research as a composer of collaborative multimedia works. The majority of artifacts that result are audiovisual installations that explore new relationships from an ecological perspective—that is—the perspective that considers the world to be a network of interconnected and interdependent phenomena. In an attempt to contextualize my research and explore new possibilities for creative practice, I have become interested in a number of theories about the agency and performativity of living and non-living systems. I present several of these theories within a historical context, and describe the audiovisual installations Aspects of Trees, Undercurrent, and the work-inprogress, Bridgings, all of which illustrate my evolving practice and ontological notion of Ecological Performativity.

Introduction
Over the past twenty years, my creative practice as a composer has increasingly become a multidisciplinary and collaborative endeavor. This work has been an enriching enterprise covering numerous perspectives that have expanded both my artistic practice and philosophical thoughts on creativity. In order to develop a supportive discourse for these creative activities, and explore new patterns of inquiry and networks of communication, I have recently been drawn to several scholarly discussions about the agency and performativity of living and non-living systems. In this paper I present several of these dialogues in their historical context, and give a descriptive account of the audiovisual installations, Aspects of Trees, Undercurrent, and the work-in-progress, Bridgings, which illustrate my evolving practice and ontological notion of Ecological Performativity.

Full Text (PDF)  p. 21-28

• Paper