creative (mis)understandings - Methodologies of Inspiration by Zheng Kuo

This project aims to develop transcultural approaches of inspiration (which we regard as mutually appreciated intentional and reciprocal artistic influence based on solidarity) by combining approaches from contemporary music composition and improvisation with ethnomusicological and sociological research. We encourage creative (mis)understandings emerging from the interaction between research and artistic practice, and between European art music, folk and non-western styles, in particular from indigenous minorities in Taiwan. Both comprehension and incomprehension yield serendipity and inspiration for new research questions, innovative artistic creation, and applied follow-ups among non-western communities. The project departs from two premises: first, that contemporary western art music as a practice often tends to resort to certain degrees of elitism; and second, that non-western musical knowledge is often either ignored or merely exploited when it comes to compositional inspiration. We do not regard inspiration as unidirectional, an “input” like recording or downloading material for artistic use. Instead, we foster artistic interaction by promoting dialogical and distributed knowledge production in musical encounters. Developing interdisciplinary and transcultural methodologies of musical creation will contribute on the one hand towards opening up the—rightly or wrongly supposed—“ivory tower of contemporary composition”, and on the other hand will contribute towards the recognition of the artistic value of non-western musical practices. By highlighting the reciprocal nature of inspiration, creative (mis)understandings will result in socially relevant and innovative methodologies for creating and disseminating music with meaning. The methods applied in the proposed project will start out from ethnographic evidence that people living in non-western or traditional societies often use methods of knowledge production within the sonic domain which are commonly unaddressed or even unknown among western contemporary music composers (aside from exotist or orientalistic appropriations of “the other”). The project is designed in four stages: field research and interaction with indigenous communities in Taiwan with a focus on the Tao people on Lanyu Island, collaborative workshops in Vienna, an artistic research and training phase with invited indigenous Taiwanese coaches in Vienna, and feeding back to the field in Taiwan. During all these stages, exchange and coordination between composers, music makers, scholars and source community experts will be essential in order to reflect not only on the creative process, but also to analyse and support strong interaction between creation and society. Re-interaction with source communities as well as audience participation in the widest sense will help to increase the social relevance of the artistic results. The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW) will host the project. The contributors are Johannes Kretz (project leader) and Wei-Ya Lin (project co-leader, senior investigator) with their team of seven composers, ten artistic research partners from Taiwan and six artistic and academic consultants with extensive experience in the relevant fields.

15th - 28th January 2019

林建享 Chien-Hsiang Lin

蘭嶼的歷史

History of Lanyu

Johannes Kretz

歐洲藝術史：一個非常主觀的概述

A very subjective overview on European Art History – from the perspective of an Austrian composer

In this short presentation I would like to present our visitors from Taiwan – in a very simple way – some aspects of European Art History and it’s connection to the life here in the history and the present.

Bernd Brabec

轉譯的形而上學

Metaphysic of Translation

Differences in both temporal and spatial situatedness as well as in
linguistic expression and conceptualisation amond human groups or
communities result in the well-known challenges of translation. However, when we go beyond language and semantics, we encounter so-called ontological pre-conceptions that are seldom engaged in translation or intercultural contact, mostly because they are not perceived at all. I will present some examples on the difference of worlds that surface when working with the deeper conceptions of sound among Indigenous communities in comparison with European traditions. I intend to sensitise workshop participants to the perception of unspoken and maybe even unspeakable conceptualisations among various human societies.

光影中的旋律

The Melody in the Light and Shadow

紀錄片/導演：林建享

Documentory/Director：Chien-Hsiang Lin

郭健平 Chien-Ping Kuo

送葬之歌

Funeral Songs

In this presentation Kuo will present some insights und his research findings of the mysteriously funeral songs of the Tao, which haven’t been researched and published by the academics in the past.

Sandeep Bhagwati

組裝音樂：來自不同傳統的音樂製作者如何能夠相互配合和交流

Assembling Music: How music makers from different traditions can comprovise and communicate with each other

 Since the 1990s, Sandeep Bhagwati has worked with many musicians from a wide variety of cultures, traditions and genres. He founded three trans-traditional ensembles Ensemble Extrakte Berlin (Germany), Ensemble Sangeet Prayog Pune (India), Ensemble Sound of Montréal (Canada). At his matralab (Concordia University) he has also developed new notations and communication devices between musicians, and has evolved a rich repertoire of comprovisation methods that help musicians of any kind, whether professional or not, whether reading or not, to create music together. In his talk, he will present these ensembles, methods and tools - and offer some thoughts on how and why musicians might work together across traditions in a politically unequal and culturally fractious world.

葉慧 Hui Ye

介於中間

Being Inbetween

Hui Ye is a media and sound artist based in Vienna. In her artistic practice she works with different media: video/film, sound and video installation, electroacoustic composition and sound performance. Having an artistic background as composer and sound performer, exploring the relationship between sound and moving image, along with experimenting with how these time-based media can be transformed in new and challenging ways, is one the main concern of her work. As a Chinese artist based in Vienna/Europe since years, Ye observes and understand her personal experience and let it influence her artistic work. The question how social identity is shaped in different cultural and political contexts is another vital issue of her artistic research. In Ye’s talk, she will present her works in both fields: sound and media arts. Furthermore, she will talk about the experience of Being Inbetween in the meaning of artistic practice as well as personal and political life.

林維亞 Wei-Ya Lin

達悟生活中的音樂：傳統與創新

Music in the Life of the Tao: Tradition und Innovation

In this presentation the dissertation project of Wei-Ya Lin will be presented. The musical tradition of the Tao as well as its continuation in contemporary music practice are explained and illustrated here by means of examples.

Sandeep Bhagwati

作曲家 - 瀕臨滅絕的物種 Composers - an endangered species?

Lecture/Workshop in the Composition Seminar of Prof. Karlheinz Essl

Si Pehbowen

蘭嶼年輕人的音樂喜好與目前台灣原住民青年的音樂性向

The Musical Interests of the Young Generation on Lanyu & the Musical Orientation of Taiwan's Indigenous Youth

In this presentation Pehbowen will give an insight about the current tendencies of the musical interests among the young indigenous generations by showing several examples.

王蓂 Ming Wang

作品介紹

Sharing Session with own Composition

1. Introduction about my background, my education in visual arts, Chinese music and western new music.

2. My work as a Taiwanese composer and musician in the West: self-identification, problems and hope.

3. Short examples with sound and video recordings of my compositions as well as interpretation of European new music on Chinese instruments.

4. Presentation of the intercultural projects that I have carried out over the last 20 years with various work teams.

5. Discussion.

划大船計畫

Keep Rowing

紀錄片/導演: 林建享

Documentory/Director: Chien-Hsiang Lin

Filip Tyran

音樂創作過程中的傳統與創新

Tradition and Innovation in musical creation process

希婻紗旮燕 Sinan Sakayan

族語之美：我聽我寫我唱我教

The Beauty of the Native Language: I Listen I Write I Sing I Teach

Sinan Sakayan worked as schoolteacher on the Lanyu Island. She will share in this session about her own experiences, how she found ways to teach pupils their native language by using innovative ways.

Workshop with Sandeep Bhagwati

創造性誤解：對話，模仿，翻譯

Creative Misunderstandings: Conversations, Imitations, Translations

In this workshop for all participants, musicians and non-musicians, we will play games that can bring forth musical experiences - whether spoken word, singing, instrument sounds or body movement.

Iris ter Schiphorst

我的電影配樂作品介紹（中文字幕）

Movies with My Music

(1) “my-non-songs” for voice/performance, bass clarinet, piano/sampler and live electronics, based on texts by Hannah Ahrendt, Inge Müller et al - some very drastic texts, which is related with the “German“

(2) Orchestral Piece „The Imaginary to Lacan“ for

Voice/Performance and Orchestra, Permiere at Wien Modern 2017.

Marc-Antoine Camp

隨著時間的推移 - 我們的音樂遺產也在變化

As time goes by – and our musical heritage changes

傳統音樂轉型的四個案例研究 Four case studies of transformations of traditional music

Johannes Kretz & 林維亞Wei-Ya Lin

藝術本位研究與應用民族音樂學

Artistic Research and Applied Ethnomusicology

This session aims to discuss the definitions of artistic research and applied ethnomusicology, as well as its overlapping area within this project.

Workshop by Chien-Ping Kuo 郭健平

譜曲達悟古謠

Composing Tao Songs

林維亞 Wei-Ya Lin

民族音樂學研究方法介紹

Introduction of the Research Methods of Ethnomusicology

In this introduction, the relevant research methods of ethnomusicology for our PEEK project will be presented and practiced.

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