The entanglement of digital technology within practices of contemporary music-making cannot be overstated. Varied forms of cutting-edge technology, both hardware and software incorporating programming languages and artificial intelligence, are so enmeshed within contemporary music as to form its very aesthetic backbone as well as the stimulus allowing access to new forms of expression.
But in the ‘expanded field’ within which traditional roles of composer and performer are up for renegotiation (Shlomowitz 2018), what role does technology, itself a social and multi-layered actant (Latour 1991), play within the creative methods and methodologies of contemporary musical practice? Beyond an enabling tool or novel conduit, how does digital technology shape and affect creative musical processes?
This free symposium, co-hosted by Cyborg Soloists and Technology in Musical Performance (TiMP), will explore and reflect upon the new methods and methodologies afforded by cutting edge technologies in creative musical practice.
Papers consider the opportunities and challenges recent technological developments pose for contemporary music making as well as how these approaches might be conceptualised within practice-based research methodologies, reassessing notions of agency, authorship and ethics within technology-informed practice and the sphere of the post- or transhuman.
The symposium will be divided into three sessions:
Hyperreality: How are technological tools and media used to render new and artificial realities for practitioners and audiences? What are the ethical implications of inviting an audience into such a ‘space’ as a visitor, or ‘user’?
Intelligent Machines: This session will explore various ways in which AI and machine learning technologies might be utilised in creative practice. Papers consider how practitioners must adopt new methods, including curation, data management and transmediation.
Augmented Instruments: How might new technologies be used to augment both historical and digital instruments? Not only do such practices allow for new and extended musical vocabularies, but also open avenues for accessibility and collaboration.
The Keynote speaker is Dr Scott McLaughlin (University of Leeds) and the symposium will conclude with a performance of his Entangled Trio by Dr Zubin Kanga and Dr Mira Benjamin.
Visit the symposium website for the schedule and free registration →