[artinfo] Critical Theory and Experimental Music

[Janos Sugar]

Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 15:41:45 -0500
=46rom: fran ilich <ilich_030@hotmail.com>
Subject: Critical Theory and Experimental Music (Australia)

CALL FOR PANEL ON THEORY AND EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
TASMANIA CONFERENCE, 'WHAT'S LEFT OF THEORY?' (details of conference
below this call).

I am seeking abstracts for papers to be included on a panel on 'Critical
Theory and Experimental Music'.

Recent experimental music, especially in the electronic domain, has of late=
 shown itself to be theoretically informed. Artists such as DJ Spooky can=
 regularly be heard citing various texts from the Critical Theory canon, and=
 the number of labels or various artists compilations themed around the=
 works of Theorists and Philosophers is ever increasing (cf "In memoriam=
 Gilles Deleuze", the label Mille plateaux and its
offshoot Ritornell to name but a few).

Papers are sought which investigate this intersection between experimental=
 music and critical theory. Questions to be addressed might include but are=
 not restricted to:

- --How does theory inform music and what kind of music does this produce?
Does such music differ substantially in its intentionality?
- --How are the ideas of various philosophers and theorists translated into=
 a musical vocabulary?
- --Do works that attempt to express in music the musical ideas contained in=
 the written texts of various philosophers convey the sense of the latter=
 sense more faithfully than the original?
- --To what extent does theoretically-informed music inform or transform the=
ory?
- --How do we read music theoretically?

Submissions should also take into account the general theme of the=
 conference (details below).

Abstracts should be sent to:

greg.hainge@adelaide.edu.au

before May 30th 2001.

Queries on THIS CALL ONLY should be addressed to this same address.

A final decision on papers for this panel will be made soon after to leave=
 any rejected papers the opportunity of resubmitting as an individual papers=
 before the major conference call deadline.

QUERIES ABOUT THE CONFERENCE itself (details below) should be addressed to=
 Ian Buchnan (University of Tasmania) whose contact details follow the=
 conference info.

CALL FOR PAPERS.

"What's Left of Theory?"

University of Tasmania, Hobart December 8-10 2001

Keynote Speaker: Fredric Jameson

=46redric Jameson once said, we can't really know what a thing is until it=
 has become something else. It might therefore be said that theory's truth=
 will only be available to us when it has ceased to be. Which prompts the=
 question: is theory still alive and well, or has it indeed mutated into=
 something else? If it has vanished did it leave a trace? Is it its=
 successor stained with its legacy? But just as importantly, we can perhaps=
 now, for the first time, determine what theory really is/was.

=46redric Jameson also said that in his opinion, theory itself is a product=
 of a leftist impulse in critical thinking. Thus despite all the criticism=
 that has been heaped on theory's progenitor structuralism for its=
 apolitical approach to analysis, it was in Jameson's view at least, born of=
 Marxist modes of thinking. This gives our question above quite a different=
 spin: is theory a leftist enterprise? Or perhaps we should ask,
was it a leftist enterprise? And if it was, is its successor still leftist?=
 Or has there been a swerve to the right in critical thinking to go along=
 with the movement beyond theory?

Papers are called for that address these questions in an interdisciplinary=
 fashion. The Deadline for abstracts is July 20 2001.

Please contact Ian Buchanan, School of English and European Languages and=
 Literatures, The University of Tasmania. I.Buchanan@utas.edu.au