ResearchWorks: The body. Tutorial - composing with audiovisual objects.

(Photo by Bartek Sadowski)

The lecture presents Marta Śniady’s way of composing with audiovisual objects. The analysis includes compositions 'in the pink' (for marimba, audio playback and video) and 'Body X Ultra' (for three performers, objects, and audio playback) and the catalogue of audiovisual motives used in these works.

In 'in the pink', based on specific preparation, the composer combines traditional and extended instrumental techniques with video fragments representing ways of improving the body. In 'Body X Ultra', the composer collaborated with designer Wiktoria Lenart in constructing new 3D-printed objects. These objects connected with choreography transform performers into machines.

'In the pink' is an attempt to draw the public’s attention to the important problem of image sales. 'Body X Ultra' deals with the subject of boundaries between art and design. What happens if art and design work together? What if utility items lose their original function and become instruments? What if our desires turn against us? Where is the line between art and design, technology and the body, everyday life and beauty?

Progressive digitisation has completely changed the way we live and think but also how we create and perceive art, therefore composers today work in a creative space that is very different to the early 21st century. Śniady acts not only as a composer, but also as a director, choreographer and lyricist. She draws inspiration from theatre, film, visual arts, and transfers tools from other fields of art to music.

With the help of audiovisual objects, Śniady has created pieces that talk about current issues in a way that evokes excitement, just like the discovery of extended instrumental techniques in the past.

Biography

Composer born in 1986 in Pabianice, Poland, based in Wroclaw. She graduated with honors composition with prof. Bronislaw Kazimierz Przybylski (2010) at the Music Academy in Lodz. She studied electronic music under the direction of Dr Hab. Krzysztof Knittel for two years during the Postgraduate Studies of Film Music, Computer Music and Audio-visual Arts in the Music Academy and Schiller Film School in Lodz. In 2019 she finished Advanced Postgraduate Diploma studies in composition with Simon Steen-Andersen and Niels Rønsholdt at The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus. She participated in several composition workshops conducted among others by Simon Steen-Andersen, Chaya Czernowin, Jennifer Walshe, Rebecca Saunders and Johannes Kreidler.

Her works have been performed in Poland, Denmark, Germany, Spain and Sweden at such festivals as e. g. Warsaw Autumn, Musica Electronica Nova, Sacrum Profanum, Umami Live, Frau Musica (nova), Pulsar, Klang, Musica Estranha. She worked with such ensembles as Ensemble Garage, Kwartludium, ElletroVoce, Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble, New Music Orchestra, Njyd, Hashtag Ensemble and others. She is also an author of music for theatre plays and audio-visual installations.

She was a prize winner of XI Tadeusz Ochlewski’s Composers’ Competition in Cracow and the Composition Competition organised on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Academy of Music in Gdansk. She is a board member of International Music Festival Warsaw Autumn (since 2017), a recipient of a scholarship from the Minister of Culture in Poland (2017), and currently works at the Music Academy in Lodz, where she finished her PhD program (2015).

Guildhall School’s ResearchWorks is a programme of events centred around the School’s research activity, bringing together staff, students and guests of international standing. We run regular events throughout the term intended to share the innovative research findings of the School and its guests with students, staff and the public.