Personal Information
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Given name: Thorolf 









Surname: Thuestad









Email: thorangutang@gmail.com









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Your contribution
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Title: Transmedial composition in kinetic performance: Mimesis without resemblance, ambiguity, and the enactive mind 









Format: Project presentation (2)









Main language: English









Abstract:
This presentation explores transmedial composition in kinetic performance as a practice foregrounding embodied, kinaesthetic knowledge; understanding that precedes language and whose centrality in aesthetic experience and is marginalized by the computational standardisation of aesthetic experience. 

Drawing on Movement, Mimesis, and Mimicry (Uniarts Helsinki) and previous research, I use the performance Inscription as case study. Performer Alwynne Pritchard shares the stage with non-representational kinetic sculptures "disembodied prosthetics" that bear no resemblance to a human body whose movements derive from her motion-captured data. The mediation here, the motion capture, robotics and software translate one performer's movement into mechanical forms that necessarily transform it, producing difference, not replication. 

The presentation traces three ontological thresholds. Intent to inscription: human movement inscribed into mechanical forms, understood through Derrida's trace and Malafouris' material engagement theory as transformation, not degradation. Mechanism to agency: non-representational forms enlisting kinaesthetic knowledge through enactive perception (Noë, Sheets-Johnstone), creating an "intentionality vacuum" compelling embodied meaning-making. Sensation to kinship: pre-reflective bodily resonance (Gallese) fostering felt relation with non-human performers grounded in kinaesthetic recognition rather than visual resemblance. 

I argue that transmedial composition here is not the organisation of parallel media but the design of conditions for co-emergent meaning, irreducibly embodied, plural, and private. The practice orients toward a horizon - felt kinship - that can only exist in the interior of each encountering body. This is intended as a subversive compositional stance: work whose essential content is constitutively inaccessible to standardising forces, belonging to knowledge that cannot be extracted or algorithmically reproduced. 










Link to the Exposition :  (https://www.researchcatalogue.net/shared/69f499b4374d572eb781d76e585c428a)









Image: https://test.sar2026.ie/system/files/webform/submit_contribution/366/Alwynne_Thorolf-11.jpg









Short biographies of the presenter(s):
- Thorolf Thuestad is a sound artist, composer, kinetic sculptor and artistic researcher. He studied music technology and composition at NTNU, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Utrecht School of Arts, and holds a PhD from the University of Bergen, Grieg Academy. His work spans stage and installation arts and contemporary music, currently centred on performances for kinetic sculptures and human performers. Notable collaborators include Verdensteateret, Transiteateret and Bit20 Ensemble, and he has contributed to productions receiving multiple Hedda Awards and a Norwegian Theatre Critics Award. He co-founded Neither Nor with Alwynne Pritchard and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of the Arts Helsinki.










Previous presentations or iterations of the research:
Some of the material discussed has appeared in an article published in HUB. The overlap is limited.














Requirements
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Additional information:
I did consider suggesting a full performance of Inscription as an artistic contribution to the forum. Inscription premieres June 12th so if this is of interest it could be possible. If interested, lets talk!










Spatial and technical requirements :
If the organisers think it's practical, I might be able to bring some small kinetic sculptural elements for "in the flesh" demonstration as part of presentation. In that case a space where light could be substantially reduced/ black, is desirable. 

A full-range sound system, including subwoofers, is needed. Any type of surround sound setup is desirable but not required.

If I bring kinetic sculptural elements, I require at least 20 minutes of setup time(could happen hours earlier). 










Potential risks or ethical concerns:
None that I am aware of.










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