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Experimenting the Human

Art, Music, and the Contemporary Posthuman
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Experimenting the Human by G Douglas Barrett explores how experimental music reflects and responds to the posthuman condition, where science and technology challenge traditional notions of what it means to be human. The book examines how artists like Alvin Lucier, Pamela Z, and Pauline Oliveros use sound, technology, and interdisciplinary methods to engage with themes from cybernetics to neuroscience. Through a blend of music studies, art history, and media studies, Barrett offers fresh perspectives on humanity in the context of postwar science, technology, and contemporary art.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in experimental music, posthumanism, contemporary art, and interdisciplinary cultural studies. It suits academics, students, and thoughtful general readers curious about the intersections of technology, music, and what it means to be human today.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

An engaging consideration of what experimental music can tell us about being human.

In Experimenting the Human, G Douglas Barrett argues that experimental music speaks to the contemporary posthuman, a condition in which science and technology have challenged the centrality of the human amid the uneven temporality of postwar capitalism. Experimental music addresses this condition, Barrett contends, not by adhering to the formal strictures of musical modernism but by producing extra-formal meaning through its immanent transdisciplinary involvements with postwar science, technology, and art movements.

Hear Alvin Lucier use his brain waves to play percussion. Picture Pamela Z sculpting the sound of her voice using her wearable BodySynth system. Imagine Pauline Oliveros reflecting her voice off of the moon using radio signals. What these musical artworks have in common is an engagement with the notion that the human has been increasingly challenged through cultural, biological, medical, economic, and technoscientific means.

This book brings together music studies, art history, and media studies to provide new perspectives on cybernetics, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, robotics, and radio astronomy. Through a unique meeting of experimental music, posthumanism, and contemporary art, Experimenting the Human provides fresh insights into the perennial question of what it means to be human.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised by scholars such as Georgina Born and George E. Lewis, the book is recognised for its compelling interrogation of posthumanism through experimental music and its integration of critical race, queer, and feminist perspectives. It is celebrated for deepening the understanding of experimental music's role in addressing contemporary technological and social challenges, asserting the importance of new musical expressions in shaping concepts of the human and posthuman.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780226823409

Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 13 January 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: University of Chicago Press

Edition: 1

Illustration: 4 halftones

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 15.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 313g

Pages: 240

About the Author

G Douglas Barrett is assistant professor in the Media Arts Department at New Jersey City University.
 


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