Cyber-Narrative in Opera: Three Case Studies

This dissertation looks at three newly composed operas that feature what I call cyber-narratives: a work in which the story itself is inextricably linked with digital technologies, such that the characters utilize, interact with, or are affected by digital technologies to such a pervasive extent that the impact of said technologies is thematized within the work. Through an analysis of chat rooms and real-time text communication in Nico Muhly’s Two Boys (2011), artificial intelligence in Søren Nils Eichberg’s Glare (2014), and mind uploading and digital immortality in Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers (2010), a nexus of ideologies surrounding voice, the body, gender, digital anthropology, and cyber-culture are revealed. I consider the interpretive possibilities that emerge when analyzing voice and musical elements in conjunction with cultural references within the libretti, visual design choices in the productions, and directorial decisions in the evolution of each work. I theorize the expressive power of the operatic medium in dramatizing and personifying new forms of technology, while simultaneously exposing how these technologically oriented narratives reinforce and rely upon operatic tropes of the past. Recurring themes of misogyny and objectification of women across all three works are addressed, as is the framing of digital technology as a mechanism of dehumanization. This analysis also focuses on the unique sung and embodied aspect of opera, and how the human voice shapes concepts of identity, agency, and individuality in the digital age. All three case studies demonstrate how opera gives the cyber-narrative every possible mode of expression to explore the complexities and anxieties of human-machine relationships in the digital era, as all three operas question how the thematized technologies may come to re-define our perception and experience of humanity itself

Getting In On the Act: How Arts Groups are Creating Opportunities for Active Participation

Arts participation is being redefined as people increasingly choose to engage with art in new, more active and expressive ways. This movement carries profound implications, and fresh opportunities, for the nonprofit arts sector.We are in the midst of a seismic shift in cultural production, moving from a "sit-back-and-be-told culture" to a "making-and-doing-culture." Active or participatory arts practices are emerging from the fringes of the Western cultural tradition to capture the collective imagination. Many forces have conspired to lead us to this point. The sustained economic downturn that began in 2008, rising ticket prices, the pervasiveness of social media, the roliferation of digital content and rising expectations for self-guided, on-demand, customized experiences have all contributed to a cultural environment primed for active arts practice. This shift calls for a new equilibrium in the arts ecology and a new generation of arts leaders ready to accept, integrate and celebrate all forms of cultural practice. This is, perhaps, the defining challenge of our time for artists, arts organizations and their supporters -- to embrace a more holistic view of the cultural ecology and identify new possibilities for Americans to engage with the arts.How can arts institutions adapt to this new environment?Is participatory practice contradictory to, or complementary to, a business model that relies on professional production and consumption?How can arts organizations enter this new territory without compromising their values r artistic ideals?This report aims to illuminate a growing body of practice around participatory engagement (with various illustrative case studies profiled at the end) and dispel some of the anxiety surrounding this sphere of activity

Subversion - The Secret Power of the Message Enlaced with the Power of the Internet and Information Technology

Subversion! Is it the symbol of invisibility, or the symbol of the secret power? What does it represent, the ability to carry the messages secretly, or the power to change the world? What are the ideas or objects that subversion challenges? The authority, people, tradition, institution, or the whole of humanity. Can it be considered as a way to brainwash or as a means to manipulate the thoughts and opinions of people? Is the power used by people to hide their feelings from others, be subversive? Is it the point where the change and progress meet? There are a lot of numerous and different questions that can be born from just a simple word subversion. At first glance, we think it is something simple, but its true meaning has power and many methods of expression. The whole idea and aim of subversion are to overthrow the existing state or situation and bring a functioning or desired change. It also supports the idea of staying behind and moving by one's own beliefs and choices. One of the common ways that we are exposed to subversive messages is through advertisements for different products, and the messages they carry on. Because of them, our subconscious mind is made to believe and desire things that we do not truly need or want. In the age of information technology and social media, subversive messages are carried much easier and shaped based on the characteristics of target audiences. Nowadays, advertisement and political campaigns directly respond to the individual requirements of target audiences, making their messages much more acceptable and influential

Transindividual Equations/Matrices

This writing (thinking-feeling) unfolds (an articulation of) contemporary (dis)embodiment through specified glances at the "(post-)internet,” schizoid relationality, and network/device/identity matrices. Technogenetic (and hormonal) play and transductions for transindividuality on the transparency-obfuscation (or personality/anonymity) binaries arrive as psychotherapeutics for symphonic moving-sensing-feeling-thinking-communicating in a potentiated post-neoliberal matrix (networking). Generated is a set of direction-possibilities for a post-internet-bodied world consumed by a hegemony of individualizations and self-captures, desiring instead towards queerer ceremonies and telepathic forms of (care-)presence/therapy for being-together-alone (individuation). The concurrent/included choreographic and research-artistic work 3M0T1NG{n3tw0rk1ng} peeks into a technogenetic xeno-spacetime containing relating (meta-)selves

Spartan Daily, October 15, 2015

Volume 145, Issue 23https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/9074/thumbnail.jp

The Representation of Urban Upper Middle Class American Women\u27s Community in Sex and the City

The portrayal of urban upper middle class American women\u27s community in Sex and the City-SATC-is built upon constructed symbols related to the position of urban upper middle class American Women\u27s community and how cosmopolitan the women are. The symbol\u27s construction is characterized by singleness, upper middle class social status, well-established career, alienation, consumptiveness, independence, gender consciousness, and open mindedness in their sexual knowledge. Television has helped to fracture traditional conventions about how women should place themselves in the midst of their society and constructed urban upper middle class American women\u27s image and identity

Cultures of Resistance in Palestine and Beyond: On the Politics of Art, Aesthetics, and Affect

Rather than considering protest art as singularly revolutionary, disruptive,or unsettling to established power structures per se, this article and the contributions in the special issue explore the complex relation between cultural politics, aesthetics, affect, and resistance. Many of the articles contextualize the ambivalent and nuanced relationship between works of art, culture, and resistance within wider, constantly shifting, multiple, hegemonic discourses, and power structures. These contributions cast a skeptical eye on the notion of resistance. They complicate our understanding of how political and economic contingencies,colonialism, neoliberal market-driven policies, and global and local discourses can work to normalize, appropriate, co-opt, and commodify protest art and resistance. Moreover, they shed light on the transformative potential of art that focuses on the ordinary, or activates affective ties by disrupting hegemonic imaginaries and sensibilities