Research Library

As part of our commitment to making our work and outputs accessible, and to generate further dialogue on the issues we explore, IICSI has created an online Research Library. Here you will find a range of pieces including films, articles, think pieces, and interviews. Please use the search function or browse, and check back again as this library will be updated regularly.

Research outcomes related to the Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice project (2007-2013) are available in the ICASP Research Collection.

Raven Chacon and Candice Hopkins, “Dispatch"

Thinking Spaces 2020-21: Raven Chacon and Candice Hopkins

This Thinking Spaces talk, with guests Raven Chacon and Candice Hopkins, took place on February 12th, 2021. Entitled “Dispatch,” this presentation draws from Chacon and Hopkins’ reflections on the fight…

Thinking Spaces: Improvising and Listening Screenshot

Thinking Spaces 2020-21: “Improvising and Listening”

This Thinking Spaces event, with Professor Dr. James Harley and IMPR Graduate Students, took place on December 18th, 2020. In this session, Dr. Harley introduces the “Interactive Improvisation in Times…

Thinking Spaces 2020-21: Dong-Won Kim

Thinking Spaces 2020-21: Dong-Won Kim

This Thinking Spaces talk, “Time to Plant Seed” with guest Dong-Won Kim, took place on December 4, 2020. Since 1984, Kim Dong-won has learned various traditional percussion music, such as…

Thinking Spaces: Joel Bakan

Thinking Spaces 2020-21: Joel Bakan

This Thinking Spaces talk, with guest Joel Bakan, took place on Nov. 6, 2020. For this talk, Joel Bakan discusses his new film and book, “The New Corporation.” Joel Bakan…

Thinking Spaces 2020-21: George Lipsitz

Thinking Spaces 2020-21: George Lipsitz

This Thinking Spaces talk, “Insubordinate Spaces: Why Improvisation and Accompaniment Matter Now” by George Lipsitz, took place on October 23, 2020. George Lipsitz is Research Professor Emeritus of Black Studies…

Brent graduate students 2019 IICSI cohort

Community Building through Formal and Non-Formal Music Learning: An Interview With My Father

By Brent Rowan This podcast, “Community Building through Formal and Non-Formal Music Learning: An Interview with my Father,” was completed as part of Brent Rowan’s Major Research Project for the…

black and white graphic of a figure and the words me myself & !

Musical Improvisations by Reza Yazdanpanah

A series of 3 videos created by Reza Yazdanpanah: Me myself and I: “Challenges in Improvising with Myself”, Improvisation in the Context of Persian Classical Music, and Rumi Lived Improvisationally.

decorative graphic of geometric shapes in blue and yellow.

Four33

Four33 is a podcast by IICSI graduate students Carey West and Stephen Donnelly, focusing on improvisation in daily life, particularly its value as a survival skill and tool for social change.

Decorative colour image of a figure on a bed with pieces of coloured paper surrounding them as seen from above.

In Virtual Rectangles

In Virtual Rectangles” a recording of a non-scripted live performance by IICSI Researchers Paul Watkins and Leila Qashu, and Critical Studies in Improvisation grad students Shaghayegh Yassemi and Erwan Noblet (2021).

cover page screeen shot

Everyday Improvisation in Public Space: A Literature Review

Everyday improvisation in public space is an extremely broad topic, and the structure of this literature review speaks to that. Rather than providing a cohesive overview, I have instead opted to focus on a few select areas and examples of how this phenomenon is discussed in social theory and social science research (particularly sociology and human geography), as well as providing some examples that may be of interest to IICSI in terms of philosophy of improvisation or applications for improvisation.

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