Mixing media ‘constellations’: musical history and place in live intermedial practice

Scott, Joanne

Abstract

This presentation arises from a research project, exploring the musical history of Salford, Greater Manchester, and placing that in relation to my experiences as a new resident there, through the creation of live intermedial events. Live intermediality involves the mixing of sounds, images, objects and texts in real time and can manifest in a range of modes, from semi-structured live sets to media-rich participatory spaces. Within this project, I am connecting the events created to a type of ‘place-making’, following the theories of Doreen Massey and Sally Mackey, who conceive of place as a ‘constellation of social relations, meeting and weaving together at a particular locus’ (Massey 1994: 154) and ‘space (or site) animated through operations and actions and made personal’ (Mackey 2015). The presentation specifically explores the mixing of materials arising from the collective cultural memory of popular music made in and about Salford, with my autobiographical experiences of living there. As Neiger et.al (2011) point out, referring to Maurice Halbwachs’ theories, ‘’collective memory’ defines relations between the individual and the community to which she belongs and enables the community to bestow meaning upon its existence’ (4). I am interested in the ways in which popular music is part of defining these relations and bestowing meaning, specifically, how Salford as a ‘place’ is constructed through mixing the diverse modes of memory and experience described above, as part of live media events. Combinations of sound, image, text and object are examined, specifically three modes in which materials have been combined to generate intermedial spaces - a solo performance, participatory event and video-text. Following Neiger et.al, I address how such combinations function as ‘memory agents’ (2011: 2) and the specific ‘constellation’ of affects, ideas and ‘social relations’, which each generates.

Citation

Scott, J. Mixing media ‘constellations’: musical history and place in live intermedial practice. Presented at IFTR Annual Conference 2016, University of Stockholm

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: IFTR Annual Conference 2016
• Conference Location: University of Stockholm
• End Date: Jun 17, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jun 28, 2016
• Publisher URL: https://www.iftr.org/conference
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference