Arts Research Showcase brings a day of discovery from young and seasoned voices
- Gerrit Bester
- 6 hours ago
- 6 min read
by Gerrit Bester
The Devroop brothers, renowned for bringing diverse perspectives to research at the Tshwane University of Technology’s Faculty of Arts and Design, provided the perfect “sandwich” for the Faculty’s Research Showcase on 17 October.
Prof Karendra Devroop, Professor in the Department of Performing Arts, gave a riveting account of the challenges that performers face in his keynote address, Survival of the performing musician: Analysis of market trends and the state of the music industry.
In addition, Prof Chatradari (Chats) Devroop, Research Professor, delivered a heartfelt presentation on a new book documenting the history and cultural significance of the Rajendra Orchestra, an Indian music ensemble led by the Devroops’ father, Devroop “Morris” Ramnunan.
Devroop senior largely inspired both these seasoned academics and accomplished musicians’ performing-arts careers.
The filling of this “research sandwich” comprised a treasure trove of discovery from both early-career and more established researchers at the Faculty, all determined to move the needle on research in the Arts.
Piracy undermines industry
In his keynote, Prof K, as he is popularly known at the Faculty, shared some interesting yet somewhat disturbing statistics about the livelihoods of performing artists, which, he argued, are a far cry from the image of Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.
Speaking about the recording industry, Prof Devroop said that since 2000 all five major record labels have been in decline and are now heavily in debt and that CD sales have declined by an average of 11% every year since 2002 (from 943 million in 2000 to 22 million in 2024).
“Sales are down 95% since their peak,” he added.
In addition, he noted that the value of the recorded-music market dropped by 70% from 2000 to 2014.
“There has been a slight recovery due to streaming, but if you think it’s the bright spot in the recording industry, you’re sadly mistaken.”
Amidst these statistics, piracy has become the largest contributor to the decline in music revenue, Prof Devroop stressed. “Most people will simply not pay for music.”
He compared it to walking into a museum, taking a piece of art and simply bringing it into your home.
A survey he shared on the likelihood of individuals paying for listening to music from a variety of sources is also disheartening.
For all twelve variables, including digital tracks downloaded from a computer, participants overwhelmingly said they would “definitely or probably not pay.”
There are, however, some “bright spots,” he assured the audience.
“The wild card is artificial intelligence and artists also have to find niche markets,” he emphasised. “The arts have survived for many decades. Beethoven and Mozart faced the same problems without a fraction of the resources we have today.”
Research as family heritage
The other Prof Devroop on the Faculty’s block, Prof Chatradari Devroop, gave a presentation, Melodies of Memory: The Rajendra Orchestra Story (book project), based on a book he authored and which will be published at the end of November.
Interestingly, the idea for the book arose from a conference he attended in Switzerland a few years ago, where he had a conversation about the orchestra and his father’s involvement with a fellow delegate. The delegate casually asked where he could read more about the orchestra, which planted the seed for the book. He also offered to fund it.
Prof Devroop didn’t rest on his laurels and began work immediately, conducting extensive research and interviewing people who had an interest in the band. In his typical style, he turned the notion of “Who said you cannot write about yourself as research” on its head.
Prof Devroop’s father, unfortunately, passed away at age 41 when Prof Devroop was only twelve. He took his father’s place in the band.
“If it weren’t for our father, my brother and I wouldn’t be where we are today”, he said. Both brothers played in the band.
He added that the book, his third of the year, is important because “it documents the experiences of a community that occupied a complex position within apartheid’s racial hierarchy.”
“It is a universal diaspora story with an educational legacy.”
In addition, the book preserves voices from silence and, most importantly, documents the marginalised histories in honour of the cultural achievements of ordinary people who created extraordinary institutions.
Unpacking identity and acting craft
To say that the Research Showcase had a Performing Arts flavour would be an understatement.
The lineup also included presentations by Performing Arts staff Drs Mienke Fouché and Karina Lemmer, among others.
Dr Fouché’s presentation was titled Unpacking an Obfuscated Female Protagonist: The Use of Mise-en-Scène in Minimalist Video Game Narrative through Social Semiotics, and Dr Lemmer’s presentation was titled Towards a Method for South African Film Acting.
Dr Fouché explored the portrayal of an obfuscated female protagonist, known only as P, in the minimalist game Unpacking.
The game tells its story entirely through mise-en-scène – the arrangement of scenery, props and spaces. “Adopting a social semiotics approach, the study examines how the game’s socially constructed mise-en-scène helps players ‘unpack’ the protagonist’s identity and narrative,” Dr Fouché explained.
Dr Lemmer shared her research on how acting in South Africa is informed by a performative tradition that continues to shape innovative theatre.
“This performativity may, however, not always translate optimally on screen, where truthful embodiment of behaviour is required. As the South African film industry grows and streaming platforms continue to provide opportunities, solid training in film acting has become vital, as it impacts the overall quality of the films produced.”
This has led Dr Lemmer into an ongoing research project in which she investigates how synergy can be established between South Africa’s performance tradition and the requirements of contemporary film.
Young research voices
It was also refreshing to hear the young voices at the Faculty adding their energy to the choir of research.
Freshly graduated Master’s of Performing Arts student Lehlohonolo Justice Makhele delved into The dissemination of Kgubu dance genre: A Motswako approach to neo-traditional South African dance, while Master’s student Sibongiseni Zaca gave a presentation titled Exploring Stage Management Practices in a Community Theatre Context: A Case Study of Selected Community Theatre Groups in Gauteng, RSA.
Co-creation in Fine Arts
Dr Carol Kühn from the Department of Fine and Studio Arts delivered a paper titled Digital Re-Mediation in Contemporary Sculpture Praxis: Human-Technology Co-creation.
Dr Kühn’s presentation offered an overview of her doctoral research, which interprets the praxes of traditionally trained sculptors now working in a postdigital (analogue–digital) reality.
It examined digital technology’s mediating role to show how the infolding of digitised bodies and embodied technologies form a co-creating, nonlinear, affective intra-action among the sculptor, the digital device and the material.
From the shadows to the spotlight
Laura van der Merwe and Dr Phyllis Dannhauser, staff from the Department of Visual Communication (Motion Picture Production), delivered a presentation titled Curbed Visio-Narrative Masters: Examining the Inadequate History of Film Editing in South Africa.
This presentation, based on Van der Merwe’s doctoral research, brings to the fore the important role of the film editor, moving them from the dark editing suites into the light, so to speak.
Unfortunately, film editors have largely been invisible and overlooked, despite South Africa having one of the oldest film industries.
Van der Merwe is determined to set the record straight, saying that “the creative art of editing in South Africa has actually been denied.”
Some of the earliest films produced in the country did not even credit the editor.
The day also included five poster presentations by Prof Karendra Devroop (The impact of music in the mental health of high school and university students in South Africa), Rorisang Sechele (Establishing a sustainable career as a female Jazz Vocalist): A case study of three South African Jazz Vocalists), Dr Roland Moses (Adapting Thematic Musical Elements for Instructional Design: Building a Conceptual Framework for Online Jazz Piano Education at a University of Technology), Lanie van der Walt (A comparative analysis of artificial intelligence-powered audio mastering versus human audio mastering) and Teboho Kobedi (An Exploration of African Musical Elements in the Compositional Style of Themba Mkhize).
Sechele is a Postgraduate Diploma student and Kobedi a Master’s student in Performing Arts.
Elevating research, elevating standards
Prof Nalini Moodley, Executive Dean, framed the day well by contextualising the Faculty’s research endeavours.
The Faculty’s research outputs are on a steady incline, especially the creative outputs.
Known for setting a high standard, Prof Moodley noted that this year three staff members obtained their doctorates and the Faculty is on track to have 50% of its staff complement boasting doctorates by 2027.
“It is important that we see and hear each other’s research, especially given collaboration opportunities. The question ‘What to research?’ will then become much easier,” she added.
Pfunzo Sidogi, Assistant Dean: Postgraduate Studies, Research and Innovation at the Faculty, was the programme director for the day and, as one of the participants noted, provided the perfect flow and analysis of the diverse presentations.
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
PHOTOS: Didintle Morudu