ICM 2 - Technologies of Touch
Touch is a fundamentally human gesture that reflects not just our capacity for compassion and care, but also of resistance and aggression. Touch is an important device in music and music performance, as musicians have a certain touch on their instruments. In the contemporary everyday however, touch has been appropriated by the technologies of late Western capitalism, making human contact standardised and reductive. The nature of this interaction remains poor as it takes place on a Cartesian plane and only allows access to screen-based media. Digital touch, we argue, is brittle and lacks subtlety and sociality. How might we reclaim the sensuous and expressive dimensions of touch?
In this seminar we will explore concepts of touch in music performance, investigating polyphony (Jessulat), electronic textiles (Greinke), and generative arts and composed interactions (de Campo). Students will work on concepts and prototypes for improvisation-settings, compositions and design artefacts for performances.
The three disciplinary strands will run in parallel in the respective departments, however, students are invited to attend sessions offered by the other lecturers. There will also be opportunities to attend additional sessions on topics adjacent to the overall seminar theme. The seminar emphasises independent organisation, and proactive and self-motivated work.
Generative Arts schedule:
weekly on Wednesday, 12-14, Medienhaus room 111.
Outcomes of the seminar (work developed in groups or individually) will be performed and exhibited during Rundgang.
In addition, there will be sessions that all three groups are invited to attend, including a 3-day study trip to Sauen (8 - 10 May) and a session on Wednesday 20th May 12:00 - 14:00.