1,804 research outputs found

    The Long Lives of Old Lutes: The Cultural and Material History of the Veneration of Old Musical Instruments

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    This study examines the object biographies of musical instruments and the function of age in the cultural and material history of the lute. It follows the central question of why old instruments were valued more greatly than new ones and what measures had to be executed to adapt the objects to the ever-changing musical style. It traces the lute in its several cultural functions from the 17th to the 19th century: as a musical instrument, as a symbol, as a commodity, and as an object that had to be adapted, repaired, and altered by several generations of lute makers. This interdisciplinary approach uses a broad spectrum of sources from treatises, lute manuals, forewords in printed lute music, and depictions of lutes in literature, poetry, and visual arts to construct a narrative of the appreciation of old musical instruments. It investigates the material changes that were necessary to ensure their continued use by a profound study of more than 100 instruments in public and private collections. The different business models and prices in the trade of lutes are compared and connected to the common knowledge about old instruments and their brand characteristics among lute players. This study employs methods from musicology, organology, material culture studies, acoustics, economics, art history, technology, and digital humanities. This multivalent approach enhances the understanding of the general dynamics of commodities as status symbols, object biographies, and functional objects and connects them to the material and cultural history of objects using the lute as a case study.Die Studie untersucht die Objektbiografien von Musikinstrumenten und die Funktion des Alters für die kulturelle und materielle Geschichte von Lauteninstrumenten. Sie geht der zentralen Frage nach, warum alte Instrumente höher geschätzt wurden als neue und welche Maßnahmen ergriffen werden mussten, um die Objekte an den sich ständig verändernden Musikstil anzupassen. Sie verfolgt die Laute in ihren verschiedenen kulturellen Funktionen vom 17. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert: als Musikinstrument, als Symbol, als Gebrauchsgegenstand und als Objekt, das von mehreren Generationen von Lautenbauern angepasst, repariert und verändert werden musste. Der interdisziplinäre Ansatz nutzt ein breites Spektrum von Quellen wie Traktate, Lautenhandbücher, Vorworte in gedruckter Lautenmusik und Darstellungen von Lauten in Literatur, Poesie und bildender Kunst, um die Geschichte der Wertschätzung alter Musikinstrumente nachzuverfolgen. Anhand einer eingehenden Untersuchung von mehr als 100 Instrumenten in öffentlichen und privaten Sammlungen werden die Eingriffe untersucht, die notwendig waren, um ihre weitere Nutzung zu gewährleisten. Die unterschiedlichen Geschäftsmodelle und Preise im Handel mit Lauten werden verglichen und mit dem Wissensvorrat unter Lautenisten über alte Instrumente und deren Markencharakteristiken in Verbindung gebracht. Die Studie verwendet Methoden aus der Musikwissenschaft, der Organologie, der materiellen Kulturwissenschaft, der Akustik, der Ökonomie, der Kunstgeschichte, der Instrumentenbautechnologie und der Digital Humanities. Der multivalente Ansatz verbessert das Verständnis der allgemeinen Dynamik von Waren als Statussymbole, von Objektbiografien funktionaler Objekte und verbindet sie mit der materiellen und kulturellen Geschichte der Objekte am Beispiel der Laute

    Under construction: infrastructure and modern fiction

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    In this dissertation, I argue that infrastructural development, with its technological promises but widening geographic disparities and social and environmental consequences, informs both the narrative content and aesthetic forms of modernist and contemporary Anglophone fiction. Despite its prevalent material forms—roads, rails, pipes, and wires—infrastructure poses particular formal and narrative problems, often receding into the background as mere setting. To address how literary fiction theorizes the experience of infrastructure requires reading “infrastructurally”: that is, paying attention to the seemingly mundane interactions between characters and their built environments. The writers central to this project—James Joyce, William Faulkner, Karen Tei Yamashita, and Mohsin Hamid—take up the representational challenges posed by infrastructure by bringing transit networks, sanitation systems, and electrical grids and the histories of their development and use into the foreground. These writers call attention to the political dimensions of built environments, revealing the ways infrastructures produce, reinforce, and perpetuate racial and socioeconomic fault lines. They also attempt to formalize the material relations of power inscribed by and within infrastructure; the novel itself becomes an imaginary counterpart to the technologies of infrastructure, a form that shapes and constrains what types of social action and affiliation are possible

    Reframing museum epistemology for the information age: a discursive design approach to revealing complexity

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    This practice-based research inquiry examines the impact of an epistemic shift, brought about by the dawning of the information age and advances in networked communication technologies, on physical knowledge institutions - focusing on museums. The research charts adapting knowledge schemas used in museum knowledge organisation and discusses the potential for a new knowledge schema, the network, to establish a new epistemology for museums that reflects contemporary hyperlinked and networked knowledge. The research investigates the potential for networked and shared virtual reality spaces to reveal new ‘knowledge monuments’ reflecting the epistemic values of the network society and the space of flows. The central practice for this thesis focuses on two main elements. The first is applying networks and visual complexity to reveal multi-linearity and adapting perspectives in relational knowledge networks. This concept was explored through two discursive design projects, the Museum Collection Engine, which uses data visualisation, cloud data, and image recognition within an immersive projection dome to create a dynamic and searchable museum collection that returns new and interlinking constellations of museum objects and knowledge. The second discursive design project was Shared Pasts: Decoding Complexity, an AR app with a unique ‘anti-personalisation’ recommendation system designed to reveal complex narratives around historic objects and places. The second element is folksonomy and co-design in developing new community-focused archives using the community's language to build the dataset and socially tagged metadata. This was tested by developing two discursive prototypes, Women Reclaiming AI and Sanctuary Stories

    A critical sociolinguistic study of diasporization among Hungarians in Catalonia

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    This thesis investigates how contemporary diasporas evolve, how diasporization takes place under the conditions of late modernity, and how language features in this process. By diasporization, I refer to the process(es) in which diasporic groups emerge and individuals start to engage in certain diasporic practices, i.e., social practices that are associated with their ethnic or national origin or with their imagined homeland, or with boundary management in the host-land. The research was an ethnographically informed critical sociolinguistic study of first-generation Hungarians in Catalonia that drew on collaborative methodologies in order to include the emic perspectives of the participants. To capture these perspectives, the research combined many data generating techniques, such as ethnographic field notes, biographical interviews, online focus groups, collection of material evidence, and collaborative interpretation with the key participants in the research.La tesis investiga cómo evolucionan las diásporas contemporáneas y de qué modo se produce la diasporización en las condiciones de la modernidad tardía. Con diasporización me refiero al proceso, o procesos, en los que surgen los grupos diaspóricos y los individuos comienzan a llevar a cabo ciertas prácticas diaspóricas, es decir, prácticas sociales que se asocian a su origen étnico o nacional, su patria imaginada o la gestión de las fronteras en el país de acogida. La tesis toma la forma de estudio crítico informado etnográficamente en personas húngaras en Cataluña de primera generación y se basa en metodologías colaborativas para incluir las perspectivas émicas de las personas participantes. Con el fin de captar estas perspectivas, el estudio combina múltiples técnicas de generación de datos, como por ejemplo las notas de campo etnográficas, las entrevistas biográficas, los grupos focales en línea, la recopilación de rastros materiales y la interpretación colaborativa con las personas participantes clave en el estudio.La tesi investiga com evolucionen les diàspores contemporànies i de quina manera es produeix la diasporització en les condicions de la modernitat tardana. Amb diasporització em refereixo al procés, o processos, en què sorgeixen els grups diaspòrics i els individus comencen a dur a terme certes pràctiques diaspòriques, és a dir, pràctiques socials que s'associen al seu origen ètnic o nacional, la seva pàtria imaginada o la gestió de les fronteres al país d'acollida. La tesi pren forma d'estudi crític informat etnogràficament en persones hongareses a Catalunya de primera generació i es basa en metodologies col·laboratives per incloure les perspectives èmiques de les persones que hi participen. Per captar aquestes perspectives, l'estudi combina múltiples tècniques de generació de dades, com ara les notes de camp etnogràfiques, les entrevistes biogràfiques, els grups focals en línia, la recopilació de rastres materials i la interpretació col·laborativa amb les persones participants clau en l'estudi.Societat de la informació i el coneixemen

    Computer Vision and Architectural History at Eye Level:Mixed Methods for Linking Research in the Humanities and in Information Technology

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    Information on the history of architecture is embedded in our daily surroundings, in vernacular and heritage buildings and in physical objects, photographs and plans. Historians study these tangible and intangible artefacts and the communities that built and used them. Thus valuableinsights are gained into the past and the present as they also provide a foundation for designing the future. Given that our understanding of the past is limited by the inadequate availability of data, the article demonstrates that advanced computer tools can help gain more and well-linked data from the past. Computer vision can make a decisive contribution to the identification of image content in historical photographs. This application is particularly interesting for architectural history, where visual sources play an essential role in understanding the built environment of the past, yet lack of reliable metadata often hinders the use of materials. The automated recognition contributes to making a variety of image sources usable forresearch.<br/

    Modelling Perception of Large-Scale Thematic Structure in Music

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    Large-scale thematic structure—the organisation of material within a musical composition—holds an important position in the Western classical music tradition and has subsequently been incorporated into many influential models of music cognition. Whether, and if so, how, these structures may be perceived provides an interesting psychological problem, combining many aspects of memory, pattern recognition, and similarity judgement. However, strong experimental evidence supporting the perception of large-scale thematic structures remains limited, often arising from difficulties in measuring and disrupting their perception. To provide a basis for experimental research, this thesis develops a probabilistic computational model that characterises the possible cognitive processes underlying the perception of thematic structure. This modelling is founded on the hypothesis that thematic structures are perceptible through the statistical regularities they form, arising from the repetition and learning of material. Through the formalisation of this hypothesis, features were generated characterising compositions’ intra-opus predictability, stylistic predictability, and the amounts of repetition and variation of identified thematic material in both pitch and rhythmic domains. A series of behavioural experiments examined the ability of these modelled features to predict participant responses to important indicators of thematic structure. Namely, similarity between thematic elements, identification of large-scale repetitions, perceived structural unity, sensitivity to thematic continuation, and large-scale ordering. Taken together, the results of these experiments provide converging evidence that the perception of large-scale thematic structures can be accounted for by the dynamic learning of statistical regularities within musical compositions

    Fostering cooperation in the European Union on skills, training and knowledge transfer in cultural heritage professions

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    Coordinadora junto a K. Gunthorpe, A. Limburg, N. Roche, E. SciacchitanoFor the first time, the Council of the European Union has invited a group of national experts to investigate skills, training and knowledge transfer in the heritage professions in Europe. The group was operational in 2017 and 2018 under the Work Plan for Culture 2015-2018, with the support of the European Commission. This report is intended to be a resource for the European Union (EU) to ensure the long-term sustainability of Europe’s cultural heritage. It aims to do this by contributing to the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 objective ‘to support the development of specialised skills and improve knowledge management and knowledge transfer in the cultural heritage sector, taking into account the implications of the digital shift’. It will also contribute to the European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage, launched by the European Commission with the aim of leaving a policy imprint beyond 2018.Depto. de Pintura y Conservación-RestauraciónFac. de Bellas ArtesTRUEComisión Europeapu

    A War of Words: The Forms and Functions of Voice-Over in the American World War II Film — An Interdisciplinary Analysis

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    Aside from being American World War II films, what else do the following films have in common? The Big Red One; Hacksaw Ridge; Harts War; Mister Roberts; Stalag 17; and The Thin Red Line — all have voice-over in them. These, and hundreds of other war films have voice-overs that are sometimes the thoughts of a fearful soldier; the wry observations of a participant-observer; or the declarations of all-knowing authoritative figures. There are voice-overs blasted out through a ships PA system; as the reading of a heart-breaking letter; or as the words of a dead comrade, heard again in the mind of a haunted soldier. This thesis questions why is voice-over such a recurring phenomenon in these films? Why is it conveyed in so many different forms? What are the terms for those different forms? What are their narrative functions? A core component of this thesis is a new taxonomy of the six distinct forms of voice-over: acousmatic, audioemic, epistolary, objective, omniscient, and subjective. However, the project is more than a structuralist taxonomy that merely serves to identify, and define those forms. It is also a close examination of their narrative functions beyond the unimaginative trope that voice-over in war films is simply a convenient storytelling device. Through interdisciplinarity — combined with a realist framework — I probe the correlations between: the conditions, codification, and suppression of speech within the U.S. military, and the manifestations of that experience through the cinematic device, and genre convention of voice-over. In addition, I present a radically new interpretation of the voice-overs in The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998) as being both a choric meta-memorial to James Jones; and a Greek tragedy — with its replication of the stagecraft of Aeschylus, in its use of the cosmic frame, and the inclusion of a collective character, which I have named ‘The Chorus of Unknown Soldiers’. The overall result is a more logical, and nuanced explanation of the forms, functions, and prevalent use of voice-over in the American World War II film

    Musiktheorie als interdisziplinäres Fach: 8. Kongress der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie Graz 2008

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    Im Oktober 2008 fand an der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz (KUG) der 8. Kongress der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie (GMTH) zum Thema »Musiktheorie als interdisziplinäres Fach« statt. Die hier vorgelegten gesammelten Beiträge akzentuieren Musiktheorie als multiperspektivische wissenschaftliche Disziplin in den Spannungsfeldern Theorie/Praxis, Kunst/Wissenschaft und Historik/Systematik. Die sechs Kapitel ergründen dabei die Grenzbereiche zur Musikgeschichte, Musikästhetik, zur Praxis musikalischer Interpretation, zur kompositorischen Praxis im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert, zur Ethnomusikologie sowie zur Systematischen Musikwissenschaft. Insgesamt 45 Aufsätze, davon 28 in deutscher, 17 in englischer Sprache, sowie die Dokumentation einer Podiumsdiskussion zeichnen in ihrer Gesamtheit einen höchst lebendigen und gegenwartsbezogenen Diskurs, der eine einzigartige Standortbestimmung des Fachs Musiktheorie bietet.The 8th congress of the Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie (GMTH) took place in October 2008 at the University for Music and Dramatic Arts Graz (KUG) on the topic »Music Theory and Interdisciplinarity«. The collected contributions characterize music theory as a multi-faceted scholarly discipline at the intersection of theory/practice, art/science and history/system. The six chapters explore commonalties with music history, music aesthetics, musical performance, compositional practice in twentieth- and twenty-first-century music, ethnomusicology and systematic musicology. A total of 45 essays (28 in German, 17 in English) and the documentation of a panel discussion form a vital discourse informed by contemporaneous issues of research in a broad number of fields, providing a unique overview of music theory today. A comprehensive English summary appears at the beginning of all contributions
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