Friction and coexistence in focus at Alliances and Commonalities 2024

This year's conference, which included a series of presentations, workshops, walks and installations, provided a unique platform to learn about ongoing and completed artistic research projects. Researchers and artists from many different artistic fields – dance, circus, opera, theater and film and media – gathered to share their insights and experiences on how artistic research can contribute to understanding and shaping our contemporary world.

One of the highlights of the conference was the exploration of 'frictional kinship' and how bodies and materials interact through artistic practice. Participants were introduced to innovative projects that challenged norms and highlighted new ways of understanding relationships between human and more-than-human actors. These included exploring how our bodies and minds interact with the environment and how bodies affect each other through physical exercises.

“It has been great to see artistic researchers from many different fields coming together in a challenging dialogue around their research projects,” says Cecilia Roos, producer of the conference and Professor of Artistic Practices at SKH. 
 
Practical elements dominated, such as walks and workshops that explored the concept of 'dialogical thinking and walking as a guide'. These elements allowed participants to engage both physically and sensorially with the research, creating a dynamic and engaging experience.
 
“ It is clear that artistic research not only has the potential to innovate artistic practices, but that it can also create important new knowledge for society at large,“ says Cecilia. 
 
Alliances and Commonalities 2024 ended in an open discussion with (the) participants where several new networks and alliances were created, both nationally and internationally. Many emphasized the importance of continued collaborations and exchanges, and several suggestions were discussed on how to make this happen. The conference clearly showed how artistic research highlights and addresses contemporary challenges and opportunities. This bodes well for the future of the artistic research field, a future as exciting as this year's edition of Alliances and Commonalities. 

Co-Creative Knitting: explorations of an improvisational practices – Charlotte Østergaard and Marie Ledendal

Plastic Extension of Music – Bertrand Chavarría-Aldrete

The Body of the Beholder – Maipelo Gabang

Conversing collaborative art practices: Unsettling a ‘Collective Body’ M Sazdic, A Göthlund, M Schalk, M Liljedahl, LHöring, E.C Lüning, R Nehme

Speculative Polskas for Karin: Exploring the creative potential of embodied knowledge in a collaborative compositional process – Karin Hellqvist

Transversal Listening. Soundwalking through Time, Space, and Technologies – Jacek Smolicki

Embodied composition techniques for AR/MR technology performances: Working with Mixed Reality as a relational montage – Marika Hedemyr

Skin Couture – Dinu Bodiciu