衛武營國家藝術文化中心 National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)

How to register │ Lecture/Seminar    │ Workshop  │ Course Content │ Lecturers 

Music and Society: Exploring the Pursuit of Artistic Inspiration

The Creative (mis)understandings - Methodologies of Inspiration project is sponsored by the Austrian National Science Foundation and directed by Johannes KRETZ, head of the Department of Electronic Computer Music and Composition at the National University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Austria. The project studies cultures, traditions, musics, dances, and performing arts systems of Indigenoues Peoples of Taiwan, and is the first research project in Europe to combine technology, ethnomusicological research, contemporary music creation, and stage performance. KRETZ and Lin co-lead a research team that includes ethnomusicologists, composers and performers. Before the project gained support from the Austrian National Science Council, KRETZ and his team had been doing field work to collect information; research and recreate Taiwan's indigenous musics for many years. In 2019, the research team will travel to Orchid Island (Lanyu) again for their annual research. Therefore, we invite the team to conduct a three-day intensive lecture and workshop based on the foundations of their research and achievements, to guide Taiwanese artists and researchers in the identification of contemporary practice-based methods in the diverse Taiwanese musical cultures.

How to register

Suitable for arts managers, producers, festival programmers, curators, artists, urban planners, architects and peers at public sectors.

Registration Fee / Attendance: Please register the lectures / seminars and workshops separately. From now on until all positions are filled

• Lecture/Seminar 9/6(Fri.)-9/7(Sat.)｜NT$1,000,maximum 50 people.
• Workshop (9/7) ｜NT$500,maximum 30 people
• Workshop (9/8)｜NT$500,maximum 30 people。

Enrollment：Enroll at the official website → Pay enrollment fee →Check enrollment status at the official website → Complete

✽ Participants of Lecture/Seminar will be credited with 9.5 hours of study hours, Workshop 2 hours.

Lecture/Seminar  

Workshop 

Course Content

Seminar | Art Research Project - Creative (Mis) /Understanding

Lecturer | Johannes KRETZ、Wei-Ya LIN、Ming WANG、Hui YE、Samu GRYLLUS

The "Creative (Mis)/ Understanding" research project aims to develop cross-cultural inspiration and methods through a combination of contemporary music creation, improvisation, ethnomusicology and sociological research. We encourage creative (mis)/ understanding through an interaction between research and artistic practice, as well as the interaction between European art music, folk and non-Western styles, with an emphasis on ethnic minorities in Taiwan. Both understanding and misunderstanding create new questions in research and innovative artistic creations that lead to unpredictable surprises and inspirations for subsequent applications in non-Western regions.

The research project is divided into four phases. Field surveys; interactions with Taiwanese aboriginal tribes and ethnic groups —focusing on the Dawu people in Lanyu and the collaborative workshops in Vienna – in the art research and training stages; inviting Taiwanese aboriginal cultural experts to Vienna for joint research and discussion; and the final stage of giving feedback to the local field in Taiwan. In these stages, communication and coordination between composers, performers, scholars, and aboriginal experts must not only present their creative process, but most importantly, analyze and support an in-depth interaction between creativity and society. The interaction of aboriginal tribes and the participation of the general public will be most beneficial toward the social relevance of artistic achievements.

The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, MDW) is the host for this art research project. The team led by two experts, project director Johannes KRETZ and executive manager/ senior researcher Dr. LINVIA, is consisted of seven composers and ten Taiwanese collaborative research associates, in addition to six art and academic consultants with extensive experience in related fields.

Lecture 1 | The Influence of Traditional Chinese Woodwind and String Instruments on Contemporary Western Music

Lecturer | Ming WANG

In the late 1970s, China was in the process of reform and modernization. After the past decade’s cultural famine during the Cultural Revolution, a new generation of Chinese composers came into contact with Western avant-garde music and tried to incorporate modern music techniques and concepts as composing elements to recreate traditional Chinese music with extreme craze. When these composers eventually arrived in the West, they won high reputations in the music industry while introducing beautiful Chinese musical elements and instruments to the West, inspiring Western composers to pursue new sounds and new themes. In the 1980s, talented Chinese and Taiwanese performers were eager to bring Traditional Chinese Woodwind and String Instruments to an international audience in hope of creating new genres, successfully producing many stunning masterpieces. Wang Ming, a composer with background in national music performance who stayed in Austria for many years, will review the influence of Chinese music and musical instruments on modern music in the past 40 years, and then explore the future of Traditional Chinese Woodwind and String Instruments under the spectrum of contemporary music.

Lecture 2 |Fish Can Factory – Application of Music Research and Local Knowledge of the Tao
Lecturer | Johannes KRETZ、Wei-Ya LIN

What is there to discuss in a fish canning factory? What are the commonalities between electronic sound combination projects and ethnomusic studies? Can art projects and academic research play a role in social and political practice? Tao (Dawu), also known as Yami, is one of the 16 indigenous peoples in Taiwan. They live in "pongso no tao", which means the “island of people” in the Dawu language. Because the island is filled with beautiful orchids, the Taiwanese named the Orchid Island (Lanyu). The traditional music of the Dawu people is mainly composed of songs. These songs convey their history and experience, express their emotions, and allow communication with humans and their environment (“i.e., non-human”).

In this lecture, we will introduce the work carried out by the lecturers of this workshop since 2005, starting with ethnomusicology and art studies, and even various projects, and ultimately promote political discussions on minority issues. This process also promotes an interdisciplinary teaching model – “Confused Inspiration” – that opens up a space for interaction and collaboration with researchers, teachers and students at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW).

Lecture 3 | Teaching multidisciplinary performance
Lecturer | Samu GRYLLUS

Samu GRYLLUS, who holds multiple roles of composer, theater artist, performer, and teacher, will introduce interdisciplinary aesthetic presentations and technical methods through his own creative work, performance and teaching experience, to lead students into the realm of cross-domain multi-creation and performance. This lecture will provide new insights into the inter-disciplinary interaction for students in different performing arts disciplines.

Lecture 4 | Composition Studies and Current Developments in the Austrian Academic System
Lecturer | Johannes KRETZ

Vienna, known as the capital of music, has twice become a city that initiates a new musical chapter in history. The historic National University of Vienna Music and Performing Arts is the artistic hub that cultivates artistic talents. Currently the head of the Department of Electronic Computer Music and Composition and an active composer, Johannes KRETZ will introduce the content and characteristics of the school’s composing education, training courses, as well as representative works.

Lecture 5 | Quiet violence
Lecturer | Hui YE

As we all know, the sound vocalization is the vibration of objects conducted and spread by matter. This orderly combination and construction of a seemingly simple physical phenomenon becomes music. Humans organize and apply different sounds, making sound/music a special art form, a media constructed above the passage of time. It mediates memory and carries emotions. It carries the privacy of individuals and also mediates collective resonance.

In the history of human civilization, sound/music has always been a carrier of history and culture. However, only a small number of people takes notice. Sound/music has always been used in the political field by humans whether in a concealed or straightforward manner. Even on the battlefield, it has become a weapon that can destroy soldiers’ will without drawing blood. This lecture will start with an example of historical and contemporary political rights in countries who use sound/music as a political means, explaining how music acts as a carrier of art and culture and one of the most unique strategies in political conflict. The lecturer will also elaborate how the weapon development department in modern military technology uses the physical characteristics of sound to make it a new weapon that is both "civilized" and "effective."

Workshop

Sound Painting - a tool that connects multi-domain, multidisciplinary, and cultural participants

Lecturer | Samu GRYLLUS

Postures and gestures are often used in our daily lives to express or emphasize our thoughts, meanings and wishes. Forty years ago, American composer Walter Thompson began using gestures to create real-time works. The language he creates can be easily used in cross-cultural art dialogues, because almost anyone — from any cultural background, with any educational background, at any age, and of any nationality — can easily understand and create their own works through vocal gestures.

※Note: Participants are required to wear clothes that allow easy activity and enable playing of portable instruments. Those who want to participate in the workshop by singing, vocal warm-up exercises are recommended before the workshop begins.

Lecturers

Johannes KRETZ

Head of Department of Composition, Electro-Acoustics and Tonmeister Education, MDW-University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Austria

Born in Vienna in 1968, Johannes KRETZ entered the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna to learn after F. Burt and M. Jarrell in the study of composition and education. During this time, he also studied mathematics at the University Vienna. KRETZ studied at IRCAM, Paris, France from 1992 to 1993 with Marco Stroppa and Brian Ferneyhough. KRETZ is a co-founder of NewTon Ensemble Vienna, international composers PRISMA, ikultur.com, iKultLab Music Art Summer Camp and aNOther festival Vienna. He is currently a professor of computer music, musicology and composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and is the director of the Center for Innovative Music Technology (ZiMT). He is also the head of the Department of Electronic Computer Music and Composition. In addition to teaching, he has also performed in Austria, Germany, France, Poland, Czech Republic, Turkey, Lithuania, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China. KRETZ is also a regular guest on radio programs in Austria and Germany. His work is commissioned by many famous venues, teams and musicians, including: Konzerthaus WIEN, Klangforum WIEN, Ensemble On Line, Vienna Flautists, quartzt22, Internationale Lemgoer Orgeltage, Haller Bachtage, Triton Triton Trombone Quartett, Wiener Kammerchor, etc. KRETZ has also won numerous scholarships and awards.

Wei-Ya LIN
Ph.D in Ethnomusicologist, Viola Player, Interdisciplinary Performing Artist

LIN was born in 1981 in Taipei and is a musician capable of performance, composition and academic research.

In 1997, she went to the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna to study viola, learning after the famous musician Wolfgang KLOS, and also studied composition with Axel SEIDELMANN as well as chamber music with Johannes MEISSL. As an active performer, LIN was a member of the Hibiki String Quartet. This outstanding group was awarded the Karajan Center Scholarship in 2006. In the same year, they won the String Quartet Award at the national competition Austrian Gradus ad Parnassum. In 2007, they participated in the Gaetano Zinetti International Chamber Music Competition in Italy and won second prize Luoghi di Confine as well as the special prize Villa Verità Fraccaroli. Lin is now a member of the German rock band Neuschnee and the British improvisational band “2pm in the forest”. She is passionate about experimental music, and hosts the trans-art and subversive aNOther Festival Vienna festival and iKultLab Art Summer Camp with composer Johannes KRETZ, setting trends in the music capital.

Since 2005, she has devoted herself to the study of Lanyu’s ancient music and Dawu’s contemporary musical performance. LIN studied under the famous national musicologists Ursula Hemetek and Professor Svanibor Pettan, obtaining a doctoral thesis in ethnomusicology in 2015. Currently, LIN is a postdoctoral research fellow and concurrent lecturer at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Austria. She is also the Secretary General of ICTM Applied Ethnomusicology. Her research projects extend to aboriginal music, new immigrant music, minority music, ethnomusicology, and multi-disciplinary academic and artistic research. Due to her outstanding academic research results, she has won several scholarships and attended conferences around the world.

Ming WANG
Composer and teacher

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, WANG graduated from the National Music Group of the Chinese Culture University of Taipei in 1986 and studied composition under Professor Qian Nanzhang. WANG was admitted to the Universitaet fuer Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien in 1989 where she studied music theory and composition with famous professors such as Claus GANTER and Karl Heinz FUESSEL. Afterwards, she studied under Professor Dieter KAUFMANN, specializing in modern composition and electronic music. In 1997, she graduated with the highest honor of the school under unanimous support and obtained a composer diploma in addition to her master's degree. She continued to study electronic composition with Professor Dieter Kaufmann and graduated in 2003 with similarly excellent result.

During her time in Austria, she often introduced the beauty of traditional Chinese music to European musicians through performances and speeches. These lectures were held in the Austrian National Library, the University Music Department, and the Art Association. In 2004, Wang taught traditional Chinese music at the University of Vienna and in the Department of Music at University of Munich. She has been invited to perform in many prestigious concert halls and festivals such as Wiener Konzerthaus, Wiener Musikverein (Austria), Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundes-republik Deutschland (Boon, Germany). Tonhalle (Zurich, Switzerland), Kingsplace (London , UK), Wien Modern, Carinthischer Sommer (Austria), Sori Festival (Korea), and premiered for many Chinese and foreign composers, and also participated in various trans-art and impromptu performances.

Samu GRYLLUS

Composer, theater artist and teacher
Samu GRYLLUS is a multi-development creator and artist. As a composer, he often works with musicians from different musical and social backgrounds. His main focus is on the interdisciplinary nature of performing arts. In addition, he also has a wealth of experience in visual arts and academic teaching. His work has been performed at a number of festivals, including indoor operas commissioned by Sophiensaele in Berlin, the Vienna Theatre, the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation and the Hungarian State Opera. Additionally, his art installations are also exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Ludwig Museum in Budapest, and various architectural galleries. He received his Ph.D. from the Budapest University of Theatre and Film Arts. He has taught at the Vienna Music Institute since 2013 and is currently teaching contemporary chamber music at the University of Kiel in Hungary. Samu GRYLLUS has continuously created music for theater and film since the age of 15. Since 2010, he has become an expert in “Soundpainting” - a language for education and performing arts. As the curator of the “Transparency Voice Music Festival”, he is also a pioneer in promoting creative ideas by actively participating in audience seminars.

Hui YE
Composer, trans-art artist

Hui YE graduated from the Composing and Electronic Computer Music Composition Department at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Austria. In 2010, she entered the Digital Arts Department of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where she graduated with a master’s degree in Trans Arts. YE’s works of art include video, sound and video installations, live sound performances, instrumental music and electronic music composition. At the same time, she focuses on the attributes of the simultaneous occurrence of vision and sound as a visual artist and composer, as well as the human body’s physiological and psychological perceptions. A focus on the interchangeability of visual and audio concepts often appears in YE’s works and research. As a Chinese artist who has lived in Europe for many years, YE has begun to show her concern about the social identity of individuals in different cultural backgrounds in her works. Personal experiences and observations in the cross-cultural social environment have gradually become a main theme in her works.

YE has won numerous awards, such as the Austrian Theodor-Körner Art Scholarship, the Austrian Young Artists Startup Scholarship (Start-Scholarship by Bmukk - Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture Austria), the Austrian Artists National Scholarship, the 20th Japanese Media Art Nomination and the Vienna Art Hall Award (Kunsthalle Wien Prize 2018). She has also worked as an artist-in-residence in the Barim Art Space in Gwangju, South Korea, the Swarovski Peace Hotel Art Center, and the Guangzhou Times Art Museum.