Ava Imogen Grayson

I have been a lecturer at the University of the Arts Helsinki since 2017 (Sound Art & Sonic Arts), and am currently completing my doctorate at Aalto University (Department of Art & Media). As a sound artist, pedagogue, and doctoral researcher, much of the work I do places me in the role of facilitator. These realms come together in the doctoral work I will continue during my time at Saari.

As a European-descended settler from Turtle Island (Canada), a permanent resident of Finland, and a genderqueer and queer person, I value plurality and the coexistence of simultaneous knowledges. The goal of my artistry is always focussed on thoughtful dialogue and active listening.

My research concentrates on the musical score as a material influence during composition and performance processes. Through the creation of 3-dimensional material objects—which I have termed ‘notational actants’—I wish to instigate dialogue about the various entangled and temporal relationships between composer, performer, and score. This practice challenges the conventions of Western art music by using touch as well as other senses as a means of interpretation and music-making.

I look to various cultural practices that involve tactile objects—Ammassalik wooden maps, Incan khipu, knot alphabets—as well as the writings of Jane Bennett, Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, and Tim Ingold to inform this work. The current topics I wish to work on during my time at Saari deal with material affordance as an antidote to a semiotically-reliant notation system, as well as exploring how to approach ideas of musical terrain in the context of these scores.

This work is done with the hopes of encouraging reflection and radical imagination within music institutions concerning entrenched hierarchies and how we engage with sound- and music-making.

aigrayson.com