1. Introduction

1.1 Background and Context

During my studies, my focus slowly shifted from instrumental composition to music theater and performance. As I was concluding my composition bachelor at the Universidad Católica de Chile, I joined an independent music theater workshop led by Angelo Solari and Anselmo Ugarte, both trained composers as well as theater makers. Quickly, the scholarly context transformed into a circle of friends who would gather weekly, late into the night, to share tobacco, review scores, listen to weird music, and brainstorm impossible pieces. We also drafted scores for body, space, light, text, and others, introducing me to the concept of "Composed Theatre", coined by Matthias Rebstock with which I still identify.

In 2018, I founded my company "Oído Medio" with friends from my university who came from various artistic disciplines. With absolutely no resources of any kind, we risked creating site-specific pieces without much understanding of what that actually meant. It felt as if the absence of festivals, funds, and other forms of financing forced us to use space as the only tool we had to construct art. This notion of extracting the inherent content of a space deeply influenced my artistic work.

While I am a composer, I rarely write music. The musical instrument I most enjoy is light, and I have been learning to compose for it, as well as for bodies, words, and spaces. I value being part of a community of artists who seek a more fluid definition of composition, perhaps as a particular way of organizing materialities in time, or a way of perceiving timelines as music. I have also tried to avoid a strict definition of my artistic practice, which has presented difficulties in accessing certain circles, as well as writing my email signature.

I enrolled in the Master's in Multimedia Composition, whose unusual program offered the space to build on this idea. While I intended to learn technological tools, my main goal was to learn to construct works with substance -pieces layered behind concepts that connect with the audience. I believe that people should exit the theater -or site- with something; they should leave with questions; a lack of such engagement signifies a profound failure in our mission. This concern remains largely unaddressed within contemporary music, making me feel closer to the communities drawn by theater and performance art. Thus, my research for newer formats has become such an important goal in my artistic practice: It is not about pushing the boundaries of composition but about reimagining the forms in which art is experienced.

Before Corporate Unconscious, I created three works during my master's: CROP2, Mind Palace, and Construction Site. Two of these have a strong site-specific component. CROP2 was more of a research piece during the COVID crisis, where I explored movements through space and the synchronization of lights with performers walking through the vast building of Kraftwerk Bille in Hamburg. Mind Palace was my first videowalk, in the Alster-Bille-Elbe PARKS, Hamburg. This work explored how to develop narrative within the format: it showed images of a woman appear as codified memories saved by an anonymous person, questioning the idea of appropriation of former non-places as an act of common re-signification and the notion of a certain site as stacked -and highly individual- constructions of reality. Construction Site is a music theater piece where five performers, who also function as technicians, create individual scenes that reflect everyday situations. These scenes are interlinked, forming a choreography accompanied by music that is implied rather than directly heard. The staging involves continuous rearrangement, presenting brief snapshots of virtual spaces that intersect with each other through actions such as lighting adjustments, rigging, and cabling. The intent is to explore how space is perceived and constructed on a daily basis.

At the end of my master's, I decided to take not one but two semesters to work on my Abchslusskonzert. Instead of hosting a concert in the Forum, I ventured on creating an immersive experience where the audience would play a fundamental role within the work. I teamed up with the composer and theater maker Robin Plenio, to develop the piece. Luckily we got the WEPRODUCE fund from Lichthof Theater, which paid a symbolic amount to everyone involved and allowed us to focus on the research that eventually led to Corporate Unconscious.

As a process where a lot of people were involved, many of the decisions were taken not by me, but by the incredible team of people who committed to the project. Therefore, I will refer to "We", when discussing the piece itself and "I", when presenting theoretical perspectives that I personally address.

Diego Muhr. Mind Palace (2021). Site-specific video walk

Diego Muhr. Crop2 (2021). Performance for 5 walkers and light.

Diego Muhr. Construction Site (2022). Music theatre. For 6 performers and technical equipment

1.2 Research Question

At the center of this exploration lies a central research question that has driven the creative process of Corporate Unconscious: How can space itself serve as a score for multimedia performance, guiding narrative, form and participant interaction? This question challenges traditional notions of space as merely a backdrop for action, proposing instead that it can actively shape and direct the narrative flow and audience engagement in profound ways.

Within this research question are sub-questions that analyze the process of integrating multimedia elements with physical space. These include considerations of how participants' movements through space can trigger or influence narrative elements, the role of technology in mediating the relationship between space and narrative, and the potential for space to embody and convey complex themes such as synchronicity and the collective unconscious.

This thesis suggests that by understanding and considering the unique characteristics of a given space, artists and creators can build immersive experiences that resonate on multiple levels, blurring the lines between viewer and participant, and empowering the engagement of the audience. It is an exploration of the potential for spaces to host narrative and become an integral part of the creative process itself, offering new possibilities for interpretation, and the creation of meaning.

1.3 Objectives and Scope

The primary objective of this thesis is to document the development process of Corporate Unconscious, detailing the stages of its creation, the decisions made, and the reasoning behind those decisions. It serves as a detailed account of the project's journey from concept to realization. Additionally, this thesis introduces a theoretical framework to place Corporate Unconscious within the context of similar artistic endeavors, aiming to contribute to the discourse in the fields of multimedia composition and site-specific performance art.

Further analysis of the piece, particularly regarding audience perception and its impact, would necessitate additional research beyond the scope of this thesis.

1.4 Structure of the Thesis

The thesis has been divided into three main sections:
Corporate Unconscious, theoretical framework, and creative process.

We will start with the piece itself, where I introduce the team, describe the piece, and explain the overall structure of it.

Theoretical framework will discuss the artistic context where I would like to install the project, from the art of walking to site-specific performance and the concept of a Meta-Score.

In Creative process, I open up about the methodology, detailing how we developed the concept, navigated the challenges of space research, and the various multimedia techniques used to bring Corporate Unconscious to life. This part of the thesis is perhaps the most extensive, as it lays bare the complexities and uncertainties we faced along the way.

The conclusion brings together the main findings, describing the implications of our work and its place within the field of multimedia art, as well as examining its main limitations. Looking ahead, the future work section outlines the possibilities that this project opens up, both for my personal practice and as a collective.