COLLOQUIUM ARTS MEET SCIENCES/Navid Bargrizan & Marisa Dalla Chiara
Organisation and Chair:
Prof. Violeta Dinescu, Dean EASA, Class III
Prof Dr. Dušan Šuput, Dean EASA, Class II ART & SCIENCES
Prof. NAVID BARGRIZAN
Assistant Professor of Music, East Carolina University ECU College of Fine Arts and Communication/School of Music
TOPIC: Hybridity and Non-Ideological Experimentation as the Guiding Aesthetic
ABSTRACT
Experimental microtonal fabrics and tuning systems, as much as fixed- and multi-media soundscapes, offer fertile ground for musical expression, without absolute conceptual and structural dependency on pre-existing formulas prevalent in Western art music. Within this context, hybridity, (psycho)acoustical groundworks, and ethnomusicological research free from ideological constraints enhance preordained melo-harmonic constructions, granting composers a considerable palette of sonic possibilities. In this presentation, I expound on certain tuning methods, intonational approaches, and techniques of digital sound manipulation that have allowed me to synthesize disparate attitudes. Influenced by composer-thinkers such as Harry Partch, György Ligeti, and Manfred Stahnke,geographically distant schemes such as Dastgāh and Gamelan merge in my works with just intonation, extended equal temperaments, and synthetic microtonal scales, as much as acoustical phenomena, for example, partial and residual tones, or psychoacoustical notions of difference tones and subharmonics. My electroacoustic music also manifest hybridization, often reconciling concrète and electronically produced sounds with impressions drawn from literature. I demonstrate instances of how I have forged melo-harmonic structures that manifest no central musical ideology––rooted in an objective and impartial examination of diverse cultures worldwide––to elevate my personal boundaries of sensory perception and contemplation. This stance has encouraged me to explore, then, compose, hybrid configurations that reflect flexible theoretical and aesthetic frameworks aloof from commercialized art, without adherence to established norms and market dogmas. Case studies from my predominantly chamber, acousmatic, and mixed-media compositions illustrate the practical applications of such resulting procedures, providing insights into the creative process, the challenges I have encountered, and possible extra-musical sources of inspirations I have relied on.
Prof. Dr. MARISA DALLA CHIARA, R. Giuntini and E. Negri
TOPIC: Recognizing concepts and musical themes. A quantum approach to pattern recognition
How are abstract concepts and musical themes recognized on the basis of a previous experience? It is interesting to compare the behaviors of human and of artificial intelligences with respect to this problem. Generally, a hu[1]man mind that abstracts a concept (say, table) from a given set of known examples creates a table-Gestalt: a kind of vague and out of focus image that does not fully correspond to a particular table with well determined features. A similar situation arises in the case of musical themes. Can the construction of a gestaltic pattern, which is so natural for human minds, be taught to an intelligent machine? This problem can be successfully discussed in the framework of a quantum approach to pattern recognition, where ei[1]ther objects or musical themes are formally represented as pieces of quantum information, involving the uncertainties and the ambiguities that character[1]ize the quantum world. Although recognition procedures are different for human and for artificial intelligences, there is a common method of facing the problem that seems to work in both cases.
Introduction: Prof. Dr.Dr.h.c.mult.KLAUS MAINZER, President EASA, Former Full Professor of Philosophy and Philosophy of Science at TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology, Munich.
