Towards Respiratory Aesthetics: a Situated Model of Compositional Practice

Abstract

'Towards a Respiratory Aesthetics: a situated model of compositional practice'

This research describes a compositional practice informed by a respiratory philosophy. Following a range of thinkers including Henri Bergson (1965), Luce Irigaray (1999), Tim Ingold (2015) Karen Barad (2003), and Emanuele Coccia (2018) the project proposes a perspective that emphasizes our immersion in the air and a relationship of attentiveness and openness to the world. The project marks a shift of emphasis, away from the primacy of the aesthetic concerns of the human composer, towards an eco-systemic model that recognizes compositional agency as distributed.

An eco-systemic, or situated, compositional practice is one that enables processes of composition to emerge through dialogue with materials, environments, and bodies. Such practices move beyond binary notions of human 'subjects' and material 'objects' to embrace relational approaches to composition. These relational exchanges take place iteratively creating flows of agency. I develop the idea of Respiratory Aesthetics through awareness of these flows, and the intention to follow and work with them.