Re: [microsound] [OT]<--- maybe... (more on society)

[formatt <formatt@xxxxxxx>]

 i don't want to be pessimistic about those things, and for sure i don't
know how things are at that side of the world (i'm from europe), but as i
see it the 'microsound_society' is a far more integer & thought_thru
enviroment then most other musical scenes, and i'm affraid that's the only
crowd our sounds & ideas are gonna reach...

 i surely hope this community stay's like it is or even improves, grows and
effects others as well, but i guess it's just little we can achieve...

 what i mean to say is 'those who ain't sick won't have to be cured', and
the question is if the rest of the world WANTS to be...  wich is a pity.

i hope i'm wrong



peter

> Hello --
> 
> I wasn't sure if I should post this -- I'm pretty much of a lurking sort of
> guy 
> on the microsound list, but the more I thought about it the more it seemed
> intensely relevant to the work we do.  I apologize in advance to individuals
> who deem this the realm of the "the political" and thus inappropriate for
> the microsound mailing list.  I honestly cannot separate various spheres
> of activity that cleanly.
> 
> It's been a week since the terrorist attacks on New York, and I've run
> through my share of personal reactions, ranging from relief that none
> of my friends living in the WTC area were physically hurt, to incredulity
> that people seriously believe that a better future lies through tightened
> security and heightened paranoia.  Jeez, we all know that systems of security
> can be hacked with relative ease.
> 
> But the strongest and most lasting feeling is a profound sadness.  I'm
> not swimming in the anger supposedly growing in America and am instead
> dismayed at all the rhetoric of retribution and retaliation.  I am disgusted
> that our straining-to-look-serious president and his circle of advisors
> manage to work the word "war" into virtually every sentence spoken.
> And I am most discouraged that the lessons of revenge taught by blood
> in Israel, Palestine, Ireland, Yugoslavia, Rwanda... go still unheeded
> by those whose notion of justice is something like 'getting even'.
> 
> I keep asking myself: what can I do?  what can we do?  The best I can come
> up with is [this is the microsound-relevance part] a notion of how
> creative artists function in society.  Basically, we're in the culture
> business, and by proclaiming ourselves "Composers" or "Performers" or
> "Media Artists" we are adopting a particular set of relations with
> our fellow humans.  The snazzy part is that we get to modify or reinvent
> those very relations.  To me, this is the single most important aspect
> of choosing ArtAsACareer.  We make a statement about how we want to
> be in the world.
> 
> This statement certainly isn't embodied in some fixed art-object, as if
> the vibrations we make in the air stand as some weird kind of context-free
> physical manifestation of human concerns.  The role we play in shaping
> society has little to do with our ostensible product, but very much
> to do with the way we approach the production and presentation of our work.
> For me at least, the Actual Sound Objects we create don't really matter
> all that much (I have no musical taste...), but the kind of society
> represented by those sounds endow them with their musical power and
> artistic force.  One of the things that has fascinated me by reading
> the microsound list is the particular social/community structure
> that is emerging through this music.  To make my point obvious,
> the world I hear in 'microsound music' is tangibly different than,
> say, Irish folk music or the godawful remnants of the Columbia-Princeton
> 'uptown' mod music scene.  We get to make that world up, because that's
> what we decided to do.
> 
> So is this a call for more touchy-feely concerts, with all of us using
> candles next to our CPUs to demonstrate how in tune we are with
> global consciousness as we run our latest samples through our personal
> VST favorites?  Nah.  Instead, it is a plea for a heightened awareness
> of our individual actions and the socio-cultural ripples we generate.  I'm
> still stupid enough to believe that we can change the world.  We change
> it not by what we say, but by what we do to say it.
> 
> The world needs some big-time changing right now.  This is not the
> place I want to leave for my kids.
> 
> 
> Brad Garton
> Columbia University Computer Music Center
> http://music.columbia.edu/cmc
> 
> 
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