This passage mentioned the blurring between the artist and the musician. The author takes the reader through multiple examples which engage with the crossroads of different media as a form of art. It commends people who’ve become “Media Transgressors” by integrating multiple disciplines in their art, and mentions the importance of the Fluxus movement in all of this. The Fluxus movement – experimental pieces focusing on the artistic process rather than the finished product – seems fascinating to me. Especially since I was educated in a time where the lines between disciplines in the arts are already blurred. These media transgression examples remind me a lot of what we do in Interactive Media and Live Coding. On an initial level, we are working in the intersection between music and coding. This practice inherently challenges what music is (as we’ve seen by previous reading grappling with music as a series of patterns or not…), and does so by integrating a completely different discipline. On a second level, all of us come from different backgrounds, and bring in something different into our performances. In some way, could one claim that we are also making small transgressions with our experimental pieces? Irrespective of this, the reading mentioned one of my favorite pieces, the Intonarumori by Luigi Russolo Corale. This artworks, set of instruments, was revolutionary for experimental music. It has a very interesting aesthetic and an even richer sound. Here is a video, so you can see/hear it as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=BYPXAo1cOA4 This, I believe, is an incredible example of how artists challenge what music is. What happens when musicians use non-musical sounds? I am further interested in finding the parallels between some of Russolo’s sounds and some of modern electronic music. The reader also mentioned the interaction between club culture and art, and how they both influence each other. Can you also hear how some samples may come from this? Overall, I find this reading to be very interesting and useful in providing us with a lot of examples of transformational artworks that push the boundaries of art and music.
The reading’s final section delves into the emergence of artists with art school backgrounds into the pop music scene. The author cites PJ Harvey, Pulp, Sade, and M.I.A as examples of musicians who have pursued art studies and have subsequently contributed to pushing boundaries in pop music. This observation resonated strongly with me as I closely follow pop music and admire artists who embrace a DIY ethos, striving for creative control over all aspects of their work. One example that came to mind is the pop duo Magdalena Bay, who not only write, produce, mix, and master all their music but also undertake the filming, directing, and editing of their music videos. Their output of over 51 music videos to date, created solely by two individuals working from their bedroom, showcases the power of self-sufficiency in today’s music landscape.
In the past, I was also drawn to artists like Grimes for the same reason. I believe this culture of autodidacticism, coupled with the increasing accessibility of creative tools, has led to a decentralization of the arts scene and the music industry. Musicians now have the opportunity to explore multidisciplinary approaches and exert creative control over various aspects beyond just the music itself. As access to creative tools continues to expand, I anticipate this trend of musicians embracing a diverse skill set and expanding their creative endeavors to only grow further in the future.
First, I thought the reading was relatively hard to follow because of how many unfamiliar names and references were used, and seemingly random nouns and sentences would be bolded, making them feel important to know before you could understand the reading. It was not an encouraging read to see huge chunks of bolded text that were just names of artists, bands, and pieces that I have never heard of.
What I gained from the reading was a dive into the term ‘artist-musician’, and how interdisciplinary works are becoming more common with time. It is interesting that even today, the term ‘interdisciplinary’ is still used as a buzzword of sorts to highlight an artist, as interdisciplinarity is usually regarded as a favorable addition to any project. The author lists examples of successful interdisciplinary works and notes that “in the pop music scene of recent years, in particular, the dual profession of artist-musician/musician-artist is no longer anything of note”. I agree to a certain extent, that today it might be harder to find a ‘pure’ artist / musician that is not influenced by any other fields.
The reading inspired much thought concerning the boundaries drawn between and around different disciplines of art. While the reading focuses most on the emergence of a specific blend of fields (the artist-musician), it discusses the convergence of artistic fields at large. I took particular interest in how sentiments seeking to challenge such boundaries culminated in modern movements “in which works were dematerialized and became increasingly independent of materials, techniques, media, and genres.” This sort of deconstruction seems particularly prevalent and relevant in today’s age of digital media and art. Characterized by an unprecedented scope of accessibility, variety, and volatility, the digital landscape innately carries an ethos that questions traditional definitions and lines that have made up the art world. This ethos also muddles the edges of non-digital art, as everything that exists in the physical world comes to exist in relation to a digital counterpart and context.
As I made my way through the reading, I was also struck by how topical this discussion was to our class in specific. In the context of live coding, the fogginess of this distinction between artistic fields becomes all the more apparent. As we live code, we are engaging with a mode of composition that sculpts both music and visuals (hence the live coder as the artist-musician/musician-artist) through the language of code and patterns—it is a composite of various art forms, an active conversation between the coder and the computer, and a performance that situates it all in front of a live audience. Live coding embodies and simulates the feeling of synesthesia. Stimuli bounce around and riff off of each other in what is a dynamic art form that defies the possibility of a singular definition and—hearkening back to the previous reading—even challenges the basic conventions of how we understand knowledge.
As I read about the concept of interdisciplinary artists, termed as Artist-Musicians and Musician-Artists by Hoffmann and Naumann, my thoughts gravitate towards Richard Wagner’s notion of “Gesamtkunstwerk” – the total work of art dating back to the mid-19th century. Wagner envisioned a synthesis of music, drama, poetry, visual arts, and stagecraft into one unified piece, believing it would create a more immersive and emotionally powerful experience for the audience— “The true drama is only conceivable as proceeding from a common urgence of every art towards the most direct appeal to a common public” (The Art-Work of the Future, 1849).
It’s fascinating to see how contemporary artists are intriguingly blurring the lines between music and visual arts. With the ongoing digitalization of media, the alignment between visual and musical techniques intensifies. Particularly in live-coding, artists seamlessly integrate diverse elements, embodying Wagner’s vision of synthesizing art forms. Thus, they offer a sensory-rich experience for audiences, maintaining the legacy of Gesamtkunstwerk.
Kandinsky is one of my favorite artists. Kandinsky had the ability to associate (perceptual mixing) and he could hear colors very clearly. This effect had a major impact on his art. He even named his paintings “improvisation” and “structure” as if they were not paintings but musical compositions. This site also features music for Kandinsky’s works. This website made a experiment of Kandinsky’s work called “What if you can hear the sound?”, in which they designed and developed different parts of music clips to divide Kandingsky’s work to many parts and sense.
The article describes the popular genres and development of music or painting in different periods. I like the statement in the article that, due to various factors, sometimes painting develops faster than music, sometimes music develops faster than painting, and sometimes interdisciplinary development occurs, with the two art forms supplementing each other. For the present, developments in AI technology are also impacting the art world, influencing styles of music and painting as well as interdisciplinary trends.
I’ve always been captivated by the beauty of various artistic forms and combining them to get something new, something unique. However, it never occurred to me that something I call an art form may have been seen as something completely different and not as art. That’s why, it truly caught my interest when I read about how music and art were formerly viewed as entirely distinct entities. I always believed that music was a form of art, but it’s fascinating to watch how this belief has changed over time. Another thing that really made me really excited when reading the text was the mention of noise and how it was introduced by Busoni into music.
In my own films, I often experiment with incorporating different sounds and noises to create a more immersive experience for the audience. It’s fascinating to think about how artists like John Cage explored similar ideas, breaking away from traditional musical norms and embracing the raw, unfiltered elements of sound.
There is also the mention of club culture and its influence in modern day artistic expression, something that is often overlooked but apparently incredibly prevalent. I think I’ve been more exposed to how club environments can inspire creativity and foster a sense of community among artists and musicians, through this class and through the concept of ‘Algoraves’. A club nurtures a dynamic space where ideas are exchanged freely, and boundaries are pushed to create innovative works of art. I personally don’t prefer going to clubs, but I feel like I’m missing out when I’m reading such pieces.