Songwriting as Live Practice and the Expanding Role of the Artist: Two New Artistic Research Projects at RMC

This year, the Danish Ministry of Culture’s Artistic Research funding programme has granted support to two new projects at Rhythmic Music Conservatory (RMC). Professor Jacob Anderskov will explore the role of the artist in hybrid concert formats, while Assistant Professor Soffie Viemose will investigate co-creation in songwriting as a performative practice.

Artistic Research (known as KUV in Danish) is a unique form of artistic exploration within the Ministry’s higher education institutions. It allows artists to work experimentally with new methods and approaches - contributing not only to their own artistic development, but also to the advancement of their field and to the knowledge base of the institutions involved.

The total grant for the two projects is of DKK 1,512,125 in 2025:

Assistant Professor Soffie Viemose (in collaboration with Assistant Professor Kasper Staub from the Royal Academy of Music) - Situations, Approaches, Distributions: Songwriting as a Performative Practice

How can songwriting be reimagined as an open, improvised, and performative practice, where works are created in front of an audience in interaction with the surroundings? And how can this approach help alleviate performance pressure and promote greater well-being among musicians?

These questions are explored in this collaborative project between the RMC and the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus (DJM). The project will experiment with situating songwriting as part of a living, participatory performative practice, rather than as an isolated, product-driven creation process. The goal is to develop new approaches to co-creation that foster more sustainable, inclusive, and community-oriented methods within contemporary rhythmic music.

Professor Jacob Anderskov - The Song of the Artist's Continuously Retreating Demarcation Horizons

How is the role of the artist evolving in a time when the boundaries between creator, interpreter, and audience are becoming increasingly fluid? And how can concert and collective singing formats be developed to involve more participants – both professionals and amateurs – in the artistic process?

The project builds on Jacob Anderskov’s previous experiments with hybrid concert formats, and it seeks to expand a participatory concert format with new collaborators that can challenge traditional notions of artistic identity and the role of the artwork. Throughout the project, Anderskov will collaborate with both the Aarhus Sinfonietta and several amateur choirs. The project also aims to spark a broader debate about the role of art and the artist in society – a conversation that involves not only the KUV field and higher artistic education but also the wider community.

Find more research and development activities in the RMC research database