PhD defence

Performative Transactions: Worlding Compositional Ecosystems

• A. Łukawski

Date

Friday 21 November 2025

Time

10:00 - 11:00 hour

Address

Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden

Supervisor(s)

• Prof.dr. R. Barrett
• dr. P. de Assis
• dr. M. Schuijer

Summary

In this doctoral research, composer Adam Łukawski investigates how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain are reshaping the roles of artists and the very processes of composition. Combining artistic experimentation, philosophical reflection, and software development, the project redefines the composer not only as a creator of sounds or scores, but as a designer of systems through which composition itself can unfold.

Łukawski introduces four contemporary artistic roles — artist as operator, curator, system-builder, and world-builder — and develops corresponding compositional methods. The research culminates in the design of a conceptual framework called the Autopoietic Rhizomatic Metamodelling Machine (ARMM) and its technical implementation in Decentralised Creative Networks (DCNs) — blockchain-based ecosystems where human and non-human agents can collaboratively compose.

At the centre of this infrastructure is the idea of Performative Transactions: modular, blockchain-based executable processes that encode and transform compositional operations while ensuring full transparency and provenance. Together, these tools enable what Łukawski calls allagmatic composition — a form of music creation in which the compositional system itself becomes the artwork.

Through new compositions, software prototypes, and an educational programme (Posthuman Creativity Labs), the dissertation proposes a vision of artistic practice grounded in procedural transparency, recursive design, and decentralised collaboration, inviting a future where music is composed not just by individuals, but within evolving creative ecosystems.

The public defence of the dissertation will be preceded by a final doctoral concert on 20 November 2025 at 17:00 in Studio 6, Amare, The Hague. The concert will feature works composed with AI and blockchain technologies during the research process for the MIDI-controlled instruments built by Godfried Willem-Raes (Logos Foundation), together with a performance by Ensemble Modelo62 conducted by Ezequiel Menalled and an exhibition of generative music NFTs.

PhD dissertations

Approximately one week after the defence, PhD dissertations by Leiden PhD students are available digitally through the Leiden Repository, that offers free access to these PhD dissertations. Please note that in some cases a dissertation may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later.

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