Cluster
Title of project:
Cluster
Brief overview of initiative or, if relevant, organisational strategy in regards to bringing new music to new audiences:
Country/region:
Did the initiative focus on a particular music type/genre? If so, please give details:
Written music; chamber music; live electronics; sensor-based and/or interactive; music with dance; music with moving images or real-time video processing.
If relevant, location/venue type:
Audiovisual artist studio/atelier
Average age range of audience or any other binding factor (for example location or other demographic). Please provide details below.
The average audience is composed by students, sound and visual artists, neighborhood, while the age is between 20 and 35 years.
If relevant, what instrumentation was used as part of the project:
Various instrumentation – including woods, brasses, strings, percussion, loud speakers, electronics, laptop, video and lights – up to 4 performers per session.
Duration/Regularity:
A total of four or five concerts are scheduled yearly, throughout a period of 4 months, regularly on Sunday afternoon.
Aims/objectives:
“Aims: rediscover the chamber music form within the contemporary urban context; explore the modern tension between the figures of the amateur and the professional musician; publicly discuss compositional strategies and playing techniques, incourage the audience to engage with music as notation, present the scores with the aid of projections and drafts.
Objectives: gather a diverse, varied audience in an intimate and friendly environment where to listen to chamber music, premiere, and collaborative experiments; expand the fruition of new music beyond usual venues like concert halls, galleries, museums.”
If appropriate, who are the targeted groups?
Young composers/performers, visual artists, cultural workers, students, sound artists.
Has the project been evaluated? If so, please explain how:
The series has been regularly funded by the Dezentrale Kulturarbeit initiative of the Berlin distric Treptow-Köpenick for the last 2 years. This is for us very important because it give us the opportunity to keep the concerts attendance free.
Outcomes of the project:
With 12 concert programs so far (24 performance sessions), Cluster earned itself a recognisable spot in the Berlin “neue musik” scene, with a regular media coverage of “Initiative Neue Musik” and “Digital in Berlin”. The events have acted as a platform for the realisation of new projects and future collaborations between composers and performers, occasionally with official commissions of new works. New music has been presented to a varied and heterogeneous audience, in a space that encourages the discussion and exchange of ideas.
Links to Media & Resources
https://vimeo.com/clusterseries
https://soundcloud.com/user-126625874
http://www.laborneunzehn.org/category/cluster
Do you have any data on the longer-term impact of the project/event on participants?
Each concert provides the participant with a professional audio and video recording of the performance. Some of these recordings have been used by the participants as an aid for the promotion of their work, i.e. to apply for other contests, festivals, and initiatives. In some cases, the atelier has been employed as a sort of mini-residency for the production and preparation of new works, or as a stage for previewing projects aimed at a more articulated promotion, in collaboration with institutions or other cultural entities/in initiatives.
Please give details about what steps have been taken to make projects or events accessible to people with disabilities or learning difficulties:
Unfortunately, at present no relevant progress has been made towards a full accessibility of the concerts. We are very interested in understanding how to improve this aspect of our events.
Please provide 5 key recommendations for determining good practice in projects that aim to engage new audiences with new music?
“1. Play extensively with the space
2. Exhibit music scores, or expose the notation
3. Combine performances with alternative curatorial practices for the presentation of music (panels, workshops, keynotes, meetings)
4. Share a good quality video documentation
5. Educate to active listening”
Future plans
To offer workshops and initiatives about topics like notation, semiotics, philosophy of language, politics of time, hermeneutic ontology; introduce the musical works with short panels with the composers and performers, and open up the discussion to the audience; offer extended techniques workshops by professional musicians to the non-professional and the general audience; offer young music students an alternative stage for their first experiments; create laboratories of live electronics and field recordings for kids and young people.
Contact info
Alessandro Massobrio – info@laborneunzehn.org
TAGS/KEY WORDS for whole website
Cluster, New music series, Berlin, Neue musik, New music, Composition, Live electronics, Contemporary languages
