From Space-Specificity to Site-Specificity

From Space-Specificity to Site-Specificity
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This is a past event

Suk-Jun Kim will give the paper, From Space-Specificity to Site-Specificity: Deconstruction of the Studio and the Reevaluation of Sound Art Aesthetics in Electroacoustic Composition.

 From Space-Specificity to Site-Specificity: Deconstruction of the Studio and the Reevaluation of Sound Art Aesthetics in Electroacoustic Composition

Teachings of electroacoustic composition depend, if not entirely, on what can be called Studio aesthetics, which have established themselves from the beginnings of the historic studios in the 1950s onward. The Studio aesthetics have core elements, hinging on technical and artistic tendencies that are not only revolutionary and state-of-the-art, but also traditional and conservative. Today in the teaching of electroacoustic composition, we witness the co-existence of the Studio aesthetics from the tradition of electroacoustic music and those which each individual composer (student and teacher alike) of the new generation brings to the curriculum. On the other hand, there has been a growing trend in the expansion of the Studio aesthetics among institutions, such as the BEAST (University of Birmingham), Klangdom (ZKM), and the CUBE (IEM) whose main direction of the expansion is toward space-specificity based on a multichannel system. This presentation posits the deconstruction of the Studio by examining it not merely as a physical space where the teaching of electroacoustic composition occurs or that which it targets, but more as an cultural and aesthetic place where students can find new opportunities to create an expansive or extensive field in which to listen. Toward this end, this paper explores the practice of visual art and sound art, focusing, particularly, on its site-specificity counter to space-specificity as the thematic character by which the Studio aesthetics can be reconstituted and discusses the significance of incorporating sound art aesthetics into the teaching of electroacoustic music from theoretical to practical aspects.

Speaker
Suk-Jun Kim
Venue
macRobert Building, Room 055