Marta Troicka

Thesis

Ambiguous Desire: The Band Room as Microcosm of Creation

This dissertation proposes a new framework for understanding (and fostering) creative processes across human and non-human scales by exploring a specific instance of artistic collaboration: how groups of popular musicians (bands) make music together. The research suggests that all creation occurs as it does in 'the band room'-i.e. in a physical and conceptual space where individuals routinely (choose to) come together, practice, experiment, and produce creative works. By analysing the components which constitute the band room (the space itself, the group dynamics, and the nature of popular music), these are then transposed to more abstract creative formations (including entities commonly known as authors, cultures, universes) to identify and  illuminate broader principles about how new things come into being.