Thing theory & urban objects at EXPO '58

This issue of Seminarch us devoted to the seminar Urban Objects at the Expo '58, a Thing Theory for Urbanism, initiated by Karel Wuytack, from Ghent, who is pursuing his PhD at our faculty under the supervision of prof. B. Colenbrander. The 15 participants in this Master's seminar studied the thing theory of Bill Brown, who distinguishes an object from a thing, and invites us to look at the world mediated by the thingness of objects. Students gained a fresh perception of the city and particularly of the EXPO 58 in Brussels, currently the 'object' of plans for reuse. Every student made a thematic study of the world exhibition, for example the gates, the signals, the Atomium, or the Philips Pavilion. This mapped the entire site

Music and Digital Media: A planetary anthropology

Anthropology has neglected the study of music. Music and Digital Media shows how and why this should be redressed. It does so by enabling music to expand the horizons of digital anthropology, demonstrating how the field can build interdisciplinary links to music and sound studies, digital/media studies, and science and technology studies. Music and Digital Media is the first comparative ethnographic study of the impact of digital media on music worldwide. It offers a radical and lucid new theoretical framework for understanding digital media through music, showing that music is today where the promises and problems of the digital assume clamouring audibility. The book contains ten chapters, eight of which present comprehensive original ethnographies; they are bookended by an authoritative introduction and a comparative postlude. Five chapters address popular, folk, art and crossover musics in the global South and North, including Kenya, Argentina, India, Canada and the UK. Three chapters bring the digital experimentally to the fore, presenting pioneering ethnographies of an extra-legal peer-to-peer site and the streaming platform Spotify, a series of prominent internet-mediated music genres, and the first ethnography of a global software package, the interactive music platform Max. The book is unique in bringing ethnographic research on popular, folk, art and crossover musics from the global North and South into a comparative framework on a large scale, and creates an innovative new paradigm for comparative anthropology. It shows how music enlarges anthropology while demanding to be understood with reference to classic themes of anthropological theory

Music and Digital Media

Anthropology has neglected the study of music. Music and Digital Media shows how and why this should be redressed. It does so by enabling music to expand the horizons of digital anthropology, demonstrating how the field can build interdisciplinary links to music and sound studies, digital/media studies, and science and technology studies. Music and Digital Media is the first comparative ethnographic study of the impact of digital media on music worldwide. It offers a radical and lucid new theoretical framework for understanding digital media through music, showing that music is today where the promises and problems of the digital assume clamouring audibility. The book contains ten chapters, eight of which present comprehensive original ethnographies; they are bookended by an authoritative introduction and a comparative postlude. Five chapters address popular, folk, art and crossover musics in the global South and North, including Kenya, Argentina, India, Canada and the UK. Three chapters bring the digital experimentally to the fore, presenting pioneering ethnographies of anextra-legal peer-to-peer site and the streaming platform Spotify, a series of prominent internet-mediated music genres, and the first ethnography of a global software package, the interactive music platform Max. The book is unique in bringing ethnographic research on popular, folk, art and crossover musics from the global North and South into a comparative framework on a large scale, and creates an innovative new paradigm for comparative anthropology. It shows how music enlarges anthropology while demanding to be understood with reference to classic themes of anthropological theory. Praise for Music and Digital Media ‘Music and Digital Media is a groundbreaking update to our understandings of sound, media, digitization, and music. Truly transdisciplinary and transnational in scope, it innovates methodologically through new models for collaboration, multi-sited ethnography, and comparative work. It also offers an important defense of—and advancement of—theories of mediation.’ Jonathan Sterne, Communication Studies and Art History, McGill University 'Music and Digital Media is a nuanced exploration of the burgeoning digital music scene across both the global North and the global South. Ethnographically rich and theoretically sophisticated, this collection will become the new standard for this field.' Anna Tsing, Anthropology, University of California at Santa Cruz 'The global drama of music's digitisation elicits extreme responses – from catastrophe to piratical opportunism – but between them lie more nuanced perspectives. This timely, absolutely necessary collection applies anthropological understanding to a deliriously immersive field, bringing welcome clarity to complex processes whose impact is felt far beyond what we call music.' David Toop, London College of Communication, musician and writer ‘Spanning continents and academic disciplines, the rich ethnographies contained in Music and Digital Media makes it obligatory reading for anyone wishing to understand the complex, contradictory, and momentous effects that digitization is having on musical cultures.’ Eric Drott, Music, University of Texas, Austin ‘This superb collection, with an authoritative overview as its introduction, represents the state of the art in studies of the digitalisation of music. It is also a testament to what anthropology at its reflexive best can offer the rest of the social sciences and humanities.’ David Hesmondhalgh, Media and Communication, University of Leeds ‘This exciting volume forges new ground in the study of local conditions, institutions, and sounds of digital music in the Global South and North. The book’s planetary scope and its commitment to the “messiness” of ethnographic sites and concepts amplifies emergent configurations and meanings of music, the digital, and the aesthetic.’ Marina Peterson, Anthropology, University of Texas, Austi

Music and Digital Media

Anthropology has neglected the study of music. Music and Digital Media shows how and why this should be redressed. It does so by enabling music to expand the horizons of digital anthropology, demonstrating how the field can build interdisciplinary links to music and sound studies, digital/media studies, and science and technology studies. Music and Digital Media is the first comparative ethnographic study of the impact of digital media on music worldwide. It offers a radical and lucid new theoretical framework for understanding digital media through music, showing that music is today where the promises and problems of the digital assume clamouring audibility. The book contains ten chapters, eight of which present comprehensive original ethnographies; they are bookended by an authoritative introduction and a comparative postlude. Five chapters address popular, folk, art and crossover musics in the global South and North, including Kenya, Argentina, India, Canada and the UK. Three chapters bring the digital experimentally to the fore, presenting pioneering ethnographies of anextra-legal peer-to-peer site and the streaming platform Spotify, a series of prominent internet-mediated music genres, and the first ethnography of a global software package, the interactive music platform Max. The book is unique in bringing ethnographic research on popular, folk, art and crossover musics from the global North and South into a comparative framework on a large scale, and creates an innovative new paradigm for comparative anthropology. It shows how music enlarges anthropology while demanding to be understood with reference to classic themes of anthropological theory. Praise for Music and Digital Media ‘Music and Digital Media is a groundbreaking update to our understandings of sound, media, digitization, and music. Truly transdisciplinary and transnational in scope, it innovates methodologically through new models for collaboration, multi-sited ethnography, and comparative work. It also offers an important defense of—and advancement of—theories of mediation.’ Jonathan Sterne, Communication Studies and Art History, McGill University 'Music and Digital Media is a nuanced exploration of the burgeoning digital music scene across both the global North and the global South. Ethnographically rich and theoretically sophisticated, this collection will become the new standard for this field.' Anna Tsing, Anthropology, University of California at Santa Cruz 'The global drama of music's digitisation elicits extreme responses – from catastrophe to piratical opportunism – but between them lie more nuanced perspectives. This timely, absolutely necessary collection applies anthropological understanding to a deliriously immersive field, bringing welcome clarity to complex processes whose impact is felt far beyond what we call music.' David Toop, London College of Communication, musician and writer ‘Spanning continents and academic disciplines, the rich ethnographies contained in Music and Digital Media makes it obligatory reading for anyone wishing to understand the complex, contradictory, and momentous effects that digitization is having on musical cultures.’ Eric Drott, Music, University of Texas, Austin ‘This superb collection, with an authoritative overview as its introduction, represents the state of the art in studies of the digitalisation of music. It is also a testament to what anthropology at its reflexive best can offer the rest of the social sciences and humanities.’ David Hesmondhalgh, Media and Communication, University of Leeds ‘This exciting volume forges new ground in the study of local conditions, institutions, and sounds of digital music in the Global South and North. The book’s planetary scope and its commitment to the “messiness” of ethnographic sites and concepts amplifies emergent configurations and meanings of music, the digital, and the aesthetic.’ Marina Peterson, Anthropology, University of Texas, Austi

Crafting Musical Narratives Around Sociopolitical Issues in the Greater Middle East: Personal Insights and Creative Processes in Constantina Pole and Bacha Posh

This doctoral thesis scrutinises the role of musical theatre in challenging deep-seated sociocultural norms and stimulating discourse on sensitive issues prevalent in the Greater Middle East, particularly within Turkish society. Through the creation of, and critical reflection upon, two seminal musical theatre works – Constantina Pole: A Drag Queen Musical and Bacha Posh: A Hip- Hop Musical – this research elucidates the capacity of artistic expression to confront and dissect themes such as gender fluidity, cross-dressing, femininity, misogyny, the victimisation of women, societal oppression, familial dynamics, and the underlying cultural and moral frameworks of the region. These projects serve as both artistic endeavours and critical examinations of the societal constructs they engage with.In my exploration of Constantina Pole, the thematic fabric is interwoven with the progressive portrayal of LGBTQ+ narratives reflected in significant Turkish theatre works, such as Ali Poyrazoğlu’s Oğlum Çiçek Açtı (‘My Son Blossomed’), which openly addresses the familial and societal implications of homosexuality within Turkish culture. Complementing this contextual framework, The Huysuz Show by Seyfi Dursunoğlu, one of the most seminal works in Turkish entertainment since the 1980s, was a source of inspiration for my project. Its enduring influence has profoundly shaped my approach to musical theatre, infusing the production with a unique blend of cultural critique and performance art that resonates deeply with the audience.The production also pays homage to the historical layers of Ottoman society’s male belly dancers, the köçek, infusing a nuanced exploration of gender roles and identity into the fabric of themusical. The sound of Constantina Pole is a homage to the iconic 1980s pop genre, interwoven with the rich musical traditions of Europe and the Arab world, and is synthesised through virtual analogue renditions of the era’s classic synthesisers and drum machines, crafting a musical score that resonates with a sense of timeless cultural fusion.The second part of the thesis examines Bacha Posh: A Hip-Hop Musical, the first hip-hop musical in Turkey, which utilises all aspects of the culture – from hip-hop dancing to musical sampling – and uses rapping as the sole form of storytelling. The project addresses themes such as gender fluidity, misogyny, and social oppression, focusing on the practice of bacha posh in Afghanistan. The unique storytelling approach, the cultural context, and the production’s contributions to the evolution of musical theatre in Turkey are analysed.The Bacha Posh musical finds its roots in the tradition of hip-hop musical theatre, which emerged in the 1990s and 2000s with productions such as So What Happens Now?, Jam on the Groove, Rent, and Dreamgirls. This genre has gained prominence through successful shows such as In the Heights, Hamilton, The Last Jimmy, and Box, which have all explored themes involving social issues, history, and marginalised communities. Bacha Posh utilises hip-hop’s historical storytelling function and its connection with the street and marginalised people to scrutinise cultural layers in the Middle East. As a composer, I drew inspiration from Turkish hip-hop, where the pessimism of Arabesque and the romance of Turkish pop blend with rap’s ‘coolness’. To create a Middle Eastern soundscape, I used sampled local instruments such as the qanoon and oud and Eastern string sections while incorporating universal hip-hop elements.Furthermore, the thesis investigates the production aspects of these musicals, including collaboration with performers from various disciplines and their reception in society. It also gives a comparative analysis of the two projects, exploring the similarities and differences in their themes, artistic approaches, and impact on audiences and the theatre industry.In conclusion, this research offers valuable insights into the power of musical theatre as a tool for challenging sociocultural norms in the Greater Middle East. By presenting these works, the thesis contributes to understanding the intersection between the region’s art, culture, and social issues and the potential for musical theatre to catalyse dialogue and transformation. The role of artistic innovation in fostering an environment conducive to social progress is underscored as a vital aspect of achieving meaningful change

Epistemic tools: the phenomenology of digital musical instruments

Digital music technologies, and instruments in particular, are the result of specific systems of thought that define and enframe the user’s creative options. Distinctive divisions between digital and acoustic instruments can be traced, contrasting the conceptually based design of software with the affordances and constraints of physical artefacts. Having lost the world’s gift of physical properties, the digital instrument builder becomes more than a mere luthier. The process of designing and building the instrument is transformed into a process of composition, for it typically contains a greater degree of classification and music theory than its acoustic counterpart. Part I of this thesis begins by framing musical systems in the context of the philosophy of technology. Here technological conditions are questioned and theories introduced that will assist the investigation into the relationship between creativity and technology. After this general grounding, the ramifications digital technologies pose to the human body are explored in the context of human expression through tool use. The human-machine relationship is described from phenomenological perspectives and relevant theories of cognitive science. This analysis serves as a foundation for the concept of epistemic tools, defined as the mechanism whereby techno-cultural models are inscribed into technological artefacts. The cultural element of tool use and tool origins is therefore emphasised, an aspect that is highly relevant in musical technologies. Part I thus frames the material properties of acoustic and digital instruments in relation to human culture, cognition, performance and epistemology. Part II contextualises these theories in practice. The ixiQuarks, the live improvisation musical environment that resulted from the current research, are presented as a system addressing some of the vital problems of musical performance with digital systems (such as the question of embodiment and theoretical inscriptions), proposing an innovative interaction model for screen-based musical instruments. The concept of virtual embodiment is introduced and framed in the context of the ixi interaction model. Two extensive user studies are described that support the report on ixiQuarks. Furthermore, comparative surveys on the relationship between expression and technology are presented: a) the phenomenology of musical instruments, where the divergence between the acoustic and the digital is investigated; b) the question of expressive freedom versus time constraints in musical environments is explored with practitioners in the field; and c) the key players in the design of audio programming environments explain the rationale and philosophy behind their work. These are the first major surveys of this type conducted to date, and the results interweave smoothly with the observations and findings in the chapters on the nature and the design of digital instruments that make up the majority of Part II. This interdisciplinary research investigates the nature of making creative tools in the digital realm, through an active, philosophically framed and ethnographically inspired study, of both practical and theoretical engagement. It questions the nature of digital musical instruments, particularly in comparison with acoustic instruments. Through a survey of material epistemologies, the dichotomy between the acoustic and the digital is employed to illustrate the epistemic nature of digital artefacts, necessitating a theory of epistemic tools. Consequently virtual embodiment is presented as a definition of the specific interaction mode constituting human relations with digital technologies. It is demonstrated that such interactions are indeed embodied, contrasting common claims that interaction with software is a disembodied activity. The role of cultural context in such design is emphasised, through an analysis of how system design is always an intricate process of analyses, categorisations, normalisations, abstractions, and constructions; where the design paths taken are often defined by highly personal, culturally conditioned and often arbitrary reasons. The dissertation therefore dissects the digital musical instrument from the perspectives of ontology, phenomenology and epistemology. Respective sections in Part I and Part II deal with these views. The practical outcome of this research – the ixiQuarks – embodies many of the theoretical points made on these pages. The software itself, together with the theoretical elucidation of its context, should therefore be viewed as equal contributions to the field of music technology. The thesis closes by considering what has been achieved through these investigations of the technological context, software development, user studies, surveys, and the phenomenological and epistemological enquiries into the realities of digital musical instruments, emphasising that technology can never be neutral

Music and the word in the works of T.S. Eliot and James Joyce

This thesis describes primarily the influence of music on the works of T.S. Eliot and James Joyce. This is undertaken in four chapters, framed by an introduction and conclusion. The place that music had in the lives and artistic convictions of Eliot and Joyce is discussed initially, together with the aesthetic background to the period during which these authors worked, with reference to the ways it encouraged artists generally to think across disciplines. The changing beliefs and conventions of Modernism are particularly important in this respect. Selected works by Eliot and Joyce are then examined for the effect that musical sound and musical structures had on their composition. Following this, more specific analogies are drawn between particular composers and pieces of music, and significant texts by Eliot and Joyce. The extent to which analogy is possible, or even desirable, is also considered. Some assessment is made of the critical background to both the structural and analogical aspects of musical influence. Finally, a representative survey of some musical settings of work by Eliot and Joyce is offered in an attempt to show how the exchange of ideas between the two disciplines is bi-directional. An audio tape has been appended in order to further the reader's appreciation of particular examples under discussion

Xenakis in America

Iannis Xenakis had a long-standing interest in the U.S., but given the five years he spent here, little has been written about his experiences. This study attempts, through archival research and interviews, to document Xenakis’ time in the United States. Its subject is his relationship to American cultural institutions, and in what lured Xenakis here for musical composition and research. The narrative treats the period from Copland’s invitation to Tanglewood in 1963, through Xenakis’ 1972 investment by France as a state-supported artist. While he visited the U.S. many times thereafter, he no longer sought long-term engagement with U.S. institutions, but presented work completed elsewhere. After his summer at Tanglewood, I track performances of Xenakis compositions by Schuller, Foss and Bernstein (among others) throughout the 1960s and 1970s. I examine Xenakis’ association with Balanchine, and the reception of Xenakis’ theoretical writings, culminating in the publication of Formalized Music in 1971. I give an account of Xenakis’ collaboration with Alexis Solomos on Aeschylus’ Oresteia, produced in 1966 by the Ypsilanti Greek Theatre, as well as the founding of Xenakis’ research center CMAM at Indiana University in 1967, which he would build over the next five years. Concerning Xenakis’ reasons for coming to America, I argue for two major motivations. First, there were reasons to look beyond France: its state institutions, up to the late 1960s, provided little support for avant-garde composition. Later, there were reasons to return: with the Polytope de Cluny of 1972, the Ministry of Culture signaled a policy change that favored Xenakis, and established his CeMAMu as a state-supported research center. Second, Xenakis’ opportunities in the U.S. satisfied his interest in working outside the boundaries of autonomous composition. The collaboration on the Ypsilanti Oresteia offered Xenakis involvement with both ancient and modern Greek theater, and Bloomington’s sponsorship of CMAM, which included the equipment necessary for computer synthesis of sound, gave Xenakis access to technology unavailable in France at the time