CATAVENTO - From a field trip to a concert concept: the transformation of artistic identity through musicking and tacit knowledge from a non-native perspective

Abstract

This study aims to better understand how intercultural immersion in different cultures can impact artistic processes and the experience of one's artistic identity. In this written work personal growth and evolvement in artistic identity are explored through an artistic field trip and the consequent master’s concert, which was constructed after the trip had occurred. For the reader to have an idea of the writer’s positionality and identity formation, a background of my personal and professional timeline is described. The three-layered research process takes into account the author’s origin as a Finnish native, a year spent in Portugal in exchange studies and a three-month field trip to Brazil, which all culminated in a master’s concert project CATAVENTO in December 2023. The acquisition of tacit knowledge resulting from an artistic field trip in Brazil is examined through the methods of artistic research and autoethnography. Furthermore, the experience's impact on the author’s artistic identity is analysed, particularly through the tacit knowledge assimilated from a non-native position. The theoretical framework of this research is constructed by reviewing existing academic literature on concepts such as tacit knowledge, intercultural immersion, artistic identity and musicking. To strengthen the findings of this research, I analyse the results of two focus group discussions. They were held between other artists in the global music field, whose artistic identity is partially formed through other culture’s musical traditions, in which they possess a non-native position. The key findings of this study show that diving into a field trip experience not only provides tacit knowledge that shapes one’s artistic identity but in addition, broadens worldview and widens the understanding of working amongst other cultures. As artistic expression is – implicitly and explicitly – constructed further, finding a balance between creative expression and cultural sensitivity became increasingly important. Acknowledging position and privilege became highlighted, both while conducting the field trip and deriving inspiration from it in the later stages of this research project.