micro.culture at the semes ;; IASPM International, Montréal July 3-7

micro.culture musings @ IASPM International, Montréal - -- - -- . .- - . .- - -- tobias c. van Veen - -- - -

no way I can make it, but it looks fascinating. tobias' talk particularly;;

Hearing Difference: The Seme.
bq. tobias c. van Veen

The study of resistant musical practice has often theorised its status as a "subculture." Since the advent of global capitalism, however, underground anarcho-theorists and political philosophers alike have been struggling with theorising the new position of resistant subcultures. This new position is, by default, the opposition. No longer able to practice a politics of disappearance in the mode of a liberatory invisibility, "subcultures" have shifted through the same terrain as capital: networked globalisation. Hand-in-hand with the spread of tele-technologies, electronic music cultures have shifted from the practices of the Temporary Autonomous Zone to what we can begin to theorise as a network of "microcultures." No longer invisible, but weaved into the same global fabric as capital, the very terrain of politics is remixed as microcultures move from resistance to positive and affirmative ontological projects. At the same time, musical trends play out this shift as the postmodern aesthetic of sampling is complexified through the resurgence of computer music, including the digital processes of granulation and a return to an avant-garde aesthetics of failure. Spin that again, and we could say: from memes to semes.

Is it me or does tobias translate postmodern theory into human clarity better then anyone this side of De Landa? Can't make it to Montreal at that time unfortunately...