Cartridge Music in the Quarantine: Presence, Absence, Contingency Setups and (De-)territorialised Performances
Between the end of May and the beginning of June, 2020, we performed individually, filmed, synced together, edited and presented a quarantine version of John Cage’s Cartridge Music. Uploaded on YouTube, the performance was broadcast on 1 June, as part of the 4th Research Colloquium of the Postgradua...
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| Language: | Bosnian |
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INSAM Institute for Contemporary Artistic Music
2020-12-01
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| Online Access: | https://insamjournal.com/index.php/ij/article/view/36 |
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| author | Marcello Messina Valério Fiel da Costa Marco Scarassatti |
| author_facet | Marcello Messina Valério Fiel da Costa Marco Scarassatti |
| author_sort | Marcello Messina |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Between the end of May and the beginning of June, 2020, we performed individually, filmed, synced together, edited and presented a quarantine version of John Cage’s Cartridge Music. Uploaded on YouTube, the performance was broadcast on 1 June, as part of the 4th Research Colloquium of the Postgraduate Programme in Music of the Federal University of Paraíba. Stranded at home since March, unable to reach our respective faculty offices/studios, and mostly left with domestic gear, kitchenware, sound-producing car equipment and our children’s toys, we put together an emergency version of the piece, characterised by three dramatically different setups, each with its own spatialities and soundworlds. Importantly, our use of the signifier “emergency” here is meant to refer much more to the concrete condition of our existences in this particular situation, than to the contingential circumstances of this specific musical activity. In this paper, we discuss the piece by considering its preparation, performance, presentation and audience reception. In particular, furthering our previous studies on the (de-)territorialisation of performance and on the territorial metaphors embedded in collaborative artistic interaction, we question the notions of “place” and “venue” in the context of a collective performance that happened in three different locations and of a subsequent première that did not happen in any tangible physical place at all. However, and in spite of the substantial de-territorialisation of our gig, we also consider a set of persisting spatial narratives that inscribe the performance in terms of both visually and aurally perceptible power relations. Finally, considering the inherent criticalities of the field(s) of “experimental”, “avant-garde” or simply “contemporary” music, we assess the gains and losses of such a dematerialised and yet ubiquitous performance in terms of audience participation and appreciation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0df2b2cd165d4f2e96116c451452199d |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2637-1898 |
| language | Bosnian |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | INSAM Institute for Contemporary Artistic Music |
| record_format | Article |
| series | INSAM |
| spelling | doaj-art-0df2b2cd165d4f2e96116c451452199d2025-08-20T02:25:48ZbosINSAM Institute for Contemporary Artistic MusicINSAM2637-18982020-12-0152845https://doi.org/10.51191/issn.2637-1898.2020.3.5.28Cartridge Music in the Quarantine: Presence, Absence, Contingency Setups and (De-)territorialised PerformancesMarcello Messina0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8822-3342Valério Fiel da Costa1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2657-3582Marco Scarassatti2Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, Paraíba, BrazilUniversidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, Paraíba, BrazilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, BrazilBetween the end of May and the beginning of June, 2020, we performed individually, filmed, synced together, edited and presented a quarantine version of John Cage’s Cartridge Music. Uploaded on YouTube, the performance was broadcast on 1 June, as part of the 4th Research Colloquium of the Postgraduate Programme in Music of the Federal University of Paraíba. Stranded at home since March, unable to reach our respective faculty offices/studios, and mostly left with domestic gear, kitchenware, sound-producing car equipment and our children’s toys, we put together an emergency version of the piece, characterised by three dramatically different setups, each with its own spatialities and soundworlds. Importantly, our use of the signifier “emergency” here is meant to refer much more to the concrete condition of our existences in this particular situation, than to the contingential circumstances of this specific musical activity. In this paper, we discuss the piece by considering its preparation, performance, presentation and audience reception. In particular, furthering our previous studies on the (de-)territorialisation of performance and on the territorial metaphors embedded in collaborative artistic interaction, we question the notions of “place” and “venue” in the context of a collective performance that happened in three different locations and of a subsequent première that did not happen in any tangible physical place at all. However, and in spite of the substantial de-territorialisation of our gig, we also consider a set of persisting spatial narratives that inscribe the performance in terms of both visually and aurally perceptible power relations. Finally, considering the inherent criticalities of the field(s) of “experimental”, “avant-garde” or simply “contemporary” music, we assess the gains and losses of such a dematerialised and yet ubiquitous performance in terms of audience participation and appreciation.https://insamjournal.com/index.php/ij/article/view/36john cagecartridge musicexperimental musicquarantinepandemics(de-)territorialisation of performancecontingency setups |
| spellingShingle | Marcello Messina Valério Fiel da Costa Marco Scarassatti Cartridge Music in the Quarantine: Presence, Absence, Contingency Setups and (De-)territorialised Performances INSAM john cage cartridge music experimental music quarantine pandemics (de-)territorialisation of performance contingency setups |
| title | Cartridge Music in the Quarantine: Presence, Absence, Contingency Setups and (De-)territorialised Performances |
| title_full | Cartridge Music in the Quarantine: Presence, Absence, Contingency Setups and (De-)territorialised Performances |
| title_fullStr | Cartridge Music in the Quarantine: Presence, Absence, Contingency Setups and (De-)territorialised Performances |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cartridge Music in the Quarantine: Presence, Absence, Contingency Setups and (De-)territorialised Performances |
| title_short | Cartridge Music in the Quarantine: Presence, Absence, Contingency Setups and (De-)territorialised Performances |
| title_sort | cartridge music in the quarantine presence absence contingency setups and de territorialised performances |
| topic | john cage cartridge music experimental music quarantine pandemics (de-)territorialisation of performance contingency setups |
| url | https://insamjournal.com/index.php/ij/article/view/36 |
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