Welcome to Audio Poverty Blog!

apimageA paradigm shift is changing music life at its base. These changes concern the significance of music in public life, the consumer’s listening behaviour, the easy availability and ubiquity of music, and its value creation.


“Hungry musicians and pleasures gone haywire.” (Jace Clayton aka DJ/Rupture)



Music is experiencing a blatant value crisis:

– Although music is as widely available and heard as never before, the leveling and interchangeability of the individual work is increasing. This is the result of an arbitrary use of repertoire, which apparently is satisfying all listener needs.

– An economically and artistically autonomous culture, having been one of the most important social correctives since the late seventies, is seriously threatened in its existence. Contrary to the hope of refinement of the stylistic palette the mainstream is broadening. Niches are disappearing. “Value resides in the middle.” (Chris Anderson “The Long Tail”)

– Previously relevant reference systems suffer a significant loss of importance: music critique, journalism, and the humanities will lose their sovereignty in favor of the flat hierarchy of net culture.

– The category of musical education is undermined by the new noncommittal nature of speaking about music. The musical discourse, having been shaped by a professional critique since 1800, is now being lead by music lovers and laymen. Record companies use blogs and internet portals qua viral marketing, e. g. fake reviews, as a marketing tool.

– The opening of the archives has allowed for an over-historical access to the musical repertoire, without demanding historical knowledge of eras, styles or categories from the listener.

Post economic music is facing a number of questions. How are new production circumstances changing music? What does music beyond the creation of value sound like? How does social relevance emerge? Audio Poverty is looking for answers. Or to put it differently: Audio Poverty is questioning the future of music.

Audio Poverty is devoted to the fields of economics, reception and production, that are discussed by means of lectures, panel discussions, artist interviews, concerts, and DJ sets. Problems of the present are analyzed, bearing in mind historical phenomena like the music of the Arte povera and the American mavericks, bearing in mind aesthetic practice and aesthetic theory, pop culture and serious music.

Audio Poverty wants to address helplessness, overcome alienation, and outline political solutions.

Audio Poverty
Conference and concerts.

// Date: 06. – 08/02/2009
// Opening times: FRI 18 – 01:00, SAT 14 – 01:00, SUN 12 – 01:00
// Address: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin
// Admission: Day Ticket 13/10.- €, Festival Pass 30/26.- €

Online-Tickets: here.


Concept: Ekkehard Ehlers, Björn Gottstein


List of Participants:

Heinz-Klaus Metzger (G), Steve Goodman (UK), Kodwo Eshun (UK), Mark Chung (G), Gudrun Gut (G), Achim Bergmann (G), Jay Rutledge (G), Joel Berger (G), Christian Finkbeiner (G), DJ/Rupture (USA), Awesometapesfromafrica (USA), Ensemble Zwischentöne (G), Anna Lindal (S), Ensemble Asamisimasa (N), Ensemble Mosaik (G), Thomas Meadowcroft (AUS), Alan Hilario (FI), Oyvind Torvund (NOR), Goodiepal (DK), Christine Lemke-Matwey (G), Helga de la Motte-Haber (G), Jonathan Fischer (G), Max Dax (G), Olaf Karnik (G), David Keenan (UK), Diedrich Diederichsen (G), Josephine Foster (USA), Kai Fagaschinski (G), Werner Dafeldecker (AT), Barbara Romen (AT), Eva Reiter (AT), Manon-Liu Winter (AT), Hair Police (USA), DJ Vamonos (UK), Alvin Curran (USA), Golo Föllmer (G), John Eden (G), Hartmut Möller (G), Orm Finnendahl (G), Serge Baghdassarians (G), Brian Duffy (UK), Gustav (AT), Schwester Fa (G), Christiane Rösinger (G), Modified Toy Orchestra (UK), Quarta 330 (JAP)


Programme overview here. Download PDF (german) here.


The Times They Are A-Changin’. This blog is going to serve as a platform providing and echoing stuff related to above topics, in both real world and cyber-land, featuring news on the artists involved, providing info, discussion, emotion, noise, silence, bass. Welcome to the echo chamber! Welcome to the fiesta!


gefördert durch die / funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation

ksb_swneg


No comments yet.

Leave a comment

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>