Papers and research
Academic publications, public writing, theses, talks and research activity by Daniel Portelli. This page gathers work across experimental music, sound art, multimodal composition, video-score practice, ecological media, embodied research and contemporary music culture.
Ecologies of Embodiment
Peer-reviewed video essay research connected to river ecology, mangroves, embodied research and ecological media.
Music Gesture and the Correspondence of Lines
A Leonardo Music Journal article on collaborative video mediation, gesture, line, process and compositional methodology.
Mapping the Dynamic Life of Lines
Doctoral research on multimodal compositional practice, line, visuality, video, notation and cross-modal musical thinking.
Journal articles
peer-reviewed and journal-based research
Peer-reviewed and journal-based writing on video-essay research, gesture, mediation, multimodal composition and experimental music practice.
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Ecologies of Embodiment: Video Essays II
Rivoal, D. & Portelli, D. & Goeschke, F. & Kostourou, F. & Hasegawa, T. (2023). “Ecologies of Embodiment: Video Essays II.” Journal of Embodied Research, 5(2): 3. doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/jer.9823
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Music Gesture and the Correspondence of Lines: Collaborative Video Mediation and Methodology
Portelli, D. (2020). Music gesture and the correspondence of lines: Collaborative video mediation and methodology. Leonardo Music Journal and MIT Press, Vol. 30.
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Mapping Australia
Portelli, D. (2015). Mapping Australia (D. Pocknee, B. Flanagan, & B. Sherouse, Eds.). CeReNeM Journal, No. 5. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
Public writing
articles, reviews and commentary
Public-facing writing on ecological media, collaboration, animated notation, internet opera, video practice and experimental music.
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Cutting Edge: What the River Doesn’t Say About Itself
Portelli, D. (2023). Cutting Edge: What the River Doesn’t Say About Itself. Sound artist Daniel Portelli explains how an art music/video essay about our relationship with mangroves is a form of forest therapy. Limelight Magazine. September edition.
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Mutual Entanglements in Collaboration: A Journey in Cosmic Time
Portelli, D. (2022). Mutual entanglements in collaboration: a journey in Cosmic Time. Resonate Magazine, The Australian Music Centre.
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Prestigious Works of Animated Instability: A Reflective Review of Cat Hope’s New Album Decibel
Portelli, D. (2022). Prestigious works of animated instability: A reflective review of Cat Hope’s new album Decibel. Resonate Magazine, The Australian Music Centre.
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Music in Impossible Spaces
Portelli, D. (2021). Music in Impossible Spaces. ADSR Zine. Ed. 13.
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Review: Decibel New Music: 2 Minutes from Home, An Internet Opera in 20 Parts
Portelli, D. (2021). Review: Decibel New Music: 2 Minutes from Home “An internet opera in 20 parts”. Resonate Magazine, The Australian Music Centre.
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Video Practices in Art Music, Scoring for Dreams and Empathy in Oceanography
Portelli, D. (2020). Video practices in art music, scoring for dreams and empathy in oceanography. Resonate Magazine, The Australian Music Centre.
Theses
doctoral and master’s research
Long-form research on multimodal composition, line, visuality, cross-cultural multimedia processes and compositional practice.
Mapping the Dynamic Life of Lines in a Multimodal Compositional Practice
Portelli, D. (2016). Mapping the dynamic life of lines in a multimodal compositional practice. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield.
Breath Through Water: Personal Cross-Cultural and Multimedia Processes Flowing Towards Dao in Composition
Portelli, D. (2012). Breath through water: personal cross-cultural and multimedia processes flowing towards Dao in composition. School of Humanities and Communication Arts. Dissertation (M.A. Hons.), University of Western Sydney.
Talks
selected seminars, lectures and conference papers
Selected talks and presentations connecting artistic practice, research, composition, ecological media, critical cartography and multimodal thinking.
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Towards the Multimodal Sensorium: Experience, Wellbeing and Creativity
Portelli, D. (2024). Symposium, Towards the Multimodal Sensorium: Experience, Wellbeing and Creativity, University of New England.
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Memory, Raw Materiality and Transformation: Fracturing Through Hybridity of Experience as Authenticity
Portelli, D. (2021). Bold Transition Seminar, Music & Music Therapy Discipline, Western Sydney University.
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Culture in a Time of Crisis: Critical Cartography, Counter-Mapping and Aesthetics
Portelli, D. (2020). Culture in a time of crisis: Critical Cartography, Counter-mapping and aesthetics, in support of decolonial research and perspectives. Western Sydney University. Creative Resilience Seminar 3, following the release of the conceptual music work Mapping Australia on the 2020 album Playing with fire: New Australian music for electroacoustics and piano, performed by Tamara Anna Cislowka.
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Mapping the Dynamic Life of Lines in a Multimodal Compositional Practice
Portelli, D. (2018). Composer lecture series. The Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney.
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Between Film, Music and Natural Phenomena: My Expansive Journey Towards Cultural Complexity in Dao Inspired Composition
Portelli, D. (2013). Interventions & Intersections: Postgraduate Conference.
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Daoistic Flow of Video and Sound Collaboration As Cross-Cultural Dialogue
Portelli, D. (2012). 19th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association, Knowing Asia: Asian Studies in an Asian Century.
Research activity
profiles, communities and public-facing work
Academic profiles, community projects and curatorial activities connected to contemporary music, composition and public research culture.
Humanities Commons / Ulysses platform / Australian Music Centre / Leonardo Network / Making Waves
Much of my work is self-published on this website. I also have a significant output of compositions that form part of my research practice. See News, Compositions, or search via my Linktree.
‘The Dialogue: Arts and Women’ Magazine Editor / Translator
I proofread the English version of the magazine ‘The Dialogue: Arts and Women’ by jwcm. It is about gender discrimination and rewriting history/interviews with composers Shoko Shida In and Mieko Shiomi.
Mieko Shiomi discusses her short documentary Shadow Piece (2020), where a feminist Japanese filmmaker meets the artist who was engaged in the legendary art movement Fluxus in 1960s NYC. The artist expresses antifeminist views, leading the filmmaker to embark on a journey to learn more about her. ‘Shadow Piece’ is a reference to her work of the same name in 1963.
- Chikako Morishita
- Yukiko Watanabe
- Ai Watanabe
- Akiko Yamane
- Reina Ashib
Building Communities
I organise regular online meetups with alumni from the Centre for Research in New Music, CeReNeM, and our friends. It is an international composer network representing over seven different countries. It is a place for composers in contemporary music to get together and discuss ideas.
We have had lectures about the musical traditions of Latin America, games in and as music, the concept of soundscapes from a Tim Ingoldian perspective, sound as a physical medium, music and landscape gardening and metrology, humming, music for cello and two bows, the history of the Mandarin sign for listening, music making in dreams, whale ear bones, and non-literary forms of intellectual disciplines.
Composer Series
I also founded and curate a Composer Series with the Inner West Council in Marrickville Library and other libraries around the Inner West. One composer every three months gives a talk about their music and ideas to the public. There are video/audio examples and live music performances. Composers are encouraged to bring their favourite book about music to discuss. Composers bring in a range of unique musical instruments that are on display throughout the talk.
Conference history
selected conferences, workshops and events
Selected conferences, workshops, showcases and seminar contexts across composition, sound studies, media, research creation and contemporary music.
- Music and/as Process conference, 2015, Goldsmiths, University of London, run by Dr Lauren Redhead.
- Sound::Gender::Feminism::Activism, 2016, White Noise conference at CRiSAP, London College of Communication, London, led by Professor Cathy Lane, Professor Angus Carlyle and Dr Holly Ingleton.
- Ring Di Alarm Workshop, a workshop exploring alternative references and strategies for sonic resistance to negate the White Noise of the production of racialized cultural, social and political narratives. Our discussion was broadcast live to a radio/internet stream and the workshop ended with us selecting music which we thought represented this resistance.
- Finding Democracy in Music, 2017, University of Huddersfield, led by Professor Robert Adlington.
- Noise In And As Music Symposium, 2013, University of Huddersfield, led by Professor Aaron Cassidy and Dr Aaron Einbond.
- Touching Sound Symposium, the discourse between sound and tactility, 2017, City University, led by Dr Claudia Molitor and Dr Aaron Einbond.
- Symposium, Towards the Multimodal Sensorium: Experience, Wellbeing and Creativity, UNE, 2024.
- Research Creation Showcase, presented by the School of Humanities and Communication Arts, WSU, 2023.
- Bold Transition Seminar, Memory, Raw Materiality and Transformation: Fracturing Through Hybridity of Experience as Authenticity, 2021.
- WSU Seminar Series: Cultural resilience in a time of crisis, 2020.
- Guest Lecture Series, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 2018.
- Colloquium, University of Huddersfield, UK, 2016.
- 19th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association, Knowing Asia: Asian Studies in an Asian Century, WSU, 2012.
- Interventions & Intersections Conference, WSU, 2011.
- Aspen Composers Conference, CO, USA, 2010.
- Australasian Computer Music Conference, Brisbane, QUT, 2009.