Postcard Project 'New Music and I'
23 August 2022
15:30 - 16:30 hrs (GMT+7)
C 312
This project brings to public attention personal narratives of musicians, composers, and other stakeholders around the festival Uuden Musiikin Lokakuu (UML / October New Music) in Oulu, Finland. Conceived as a companion initiative and artistic research in association with UML, the project explores the social process of value creation by examining the interaction between new music and the UML community. The project collects postcards from them under the theme of 'New Music and I', transforms them into musical narratives and interventions, and culminates in a series of short performances during UML in October 2022. I am both the violinist and researcher for the project, leading research and performance.
My hypothesis is that the people of the UML community have their own sense of history and ownership of new music, which influences the festival in its current and future states. I wish to find out: What is their experience of new music? What does new music mean to them? What kind of trends or values do we see in ‘New Music and I’ postcards? How might these values affect the future of new music at UML and within our larger society?
The purpose of this project is to gain insight into the sense of ownership that the UML community has over its music-making activities. While there are many other contemporary music festivals in Finland and abroad, UML is one of the very few festivals that has a strong connection to the local community. As cultural activities away from large cosmopolitan cities gain prominence and are used as evidence of diversity in culture, I investigate the UML community as a case study, approaching it primarily through the act of my own music-making. It is also my intention to demonstrate that cultural activities such as those at UML and artistic research can form a symbiotic relationship.