Events

24./25. September 2026, Berlin
3rd meeting of the network
with keynotes by Antoine Hennion, Centre for the sociology of innovation, Mines Paris, and
Jeremy Gilbert, Professor of Cultural and Political Theory, University of East London.

Antoine Hennion: Music as a present, music in the present
The many meanings of the verb ‘to present’ could not be more apt for expressing the questions I would like to explore with you. And ‘present’ also means ‘gift’… I shall begin with this age-old paradox: our dual sense of belonging – both social and shared, yet intimate and personal – on the one hand to a history as multifaceted and diverse as it is constantly revisited, rewritten and renewed; and on the other hand to the present moment alone. As William James said, if I say ‘now’, I am already referring to a moment that has passed. We know this only too well, we who live constantly caught between the present anticipation of a future yet to come and the present memory of past experiences: we live strictly in the present, reliving the past and dreaming of the future – or fearing it, in times like these…
Yet music, this ‘art of time’, as it has so aptly been called, seems tailor-made to render crystal-clear – I’m tempted to say ‘obvious’ (a visual adjective, that) – this paradox of the present: certainly, it can only be experienced in the present moment, but that is true of everything – the film we’re watching, the book we’re reading, the very thought that occurs to us, what I’m telling you right now; but in the case of music, to put it once again too simply, it has no material existence other than its own unfolding, in time: in its own time, its own tempo, I am tempted to say. It is this time of its own, this internal tempo of music that I would like to explore in more detail – its meaning and implications – before drawing conclusions about its current modes of production and listening – but that, I’m sure you’ll do it better than I can!

Jeremy Gilbert: From the Streets to the Streams: Musical Solidarities in the Age of Platform Capitalism
This lecture will discuss changing experiences of musical collectivity in the twenty-first century, approaching the topic from two angles. First, it will consider the question of how music cultures can become sites at which relations and feelings of solidarity are formed, expressed and experienced, drawing on my current research into the concept of solidarity, and my historic research into collectivist aesthetics and politics within dance music cultures (from Disco to Rave). Secondly, it will consider how the nature of musical cultures, ‘scenes’ and ecologies have historically tended to change during distinctive phases of capitalist development: from the ‘Fordist’ era of the 1950s and 1960s, through the ‘post-Fordist’ period of the the 70s, 80s, and 90, into the era of ‘Platform Capitalism’ wherein localised urban music scenes seem to have been largely displaced by online communities and social media (taking the history of the British Grime scene as exemplifying the move ‘from the street to the stream’), while streaming culture has exacerbated the tendency for music consumption to be privatised in every possible way. Finally, the lecture will ask us to reflect on how music and music culture can retain art even enhance their solidaristic capacities under these conditions of digitised privatisation.

23.-25. February 2026, Berlin
2nd meeting of the network
with keynotes by Bob L. T. Sturm, Associate Professor for Speech, Music and Hearing, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, and
Paolo Magaudda, Associate Professor in Sociology of Culture and Communication, University of Padova

Bob L. Sturm: I am troubled
At the conclusion of my ERC-funded project “MUSAiC: Music at the Frontiers of Artificial Creativity and Criticism”, I find that I am troubled. First, I am troubled by the collision of what I think I know about the engineering of large language models with how I see them being used, sold and valued. Something, I think, is deeply wrong here. Second, I am troubled by contradictions in my a/r/tography praxis—that is, being an artist, researcher and teacher in private and professional worlds increasingly inflected and infected by AI and AI-speak. These contradictions center on my creative and pedagogic practices, personal beliefs in intellectual property and individual liberty, and moral judgements about training AI systems on the world’s data, and neoliberalism more broadly. My talk will focus, of course, on just how troubled I am, and my current thinking about it all. 

Paolo Magaudda: Ruptures and Reassemblages in Music in the Age of AI
In 2023, generative AI abruptly became a mass and highly contested sociotechnical phenomenon, triggering visible ruptures across the music world. This talk examines these transformations through the lens of Science and Technology Studies, approaching music not as a stable object, but as a contingent and constantly negotiated assemblage of human artists and non-human technologies, intertwined with practices, regulations, markets, and cultural values. From this perspective, generative AI does not simply introduce new tools; it unsettles existing alignments and sets in motion processes of reassembly across multiple dimensions of the musical sector. I focus on four areas where these dynamics become especially visible: creative practices, authenticity, platforms, and copyright—along with emerging forms of collective agency mobilized in response to AI. Rather than framing AI as a singular technological revolution, I argue that it triggers multiple, overlapping and contested reassemblages. Many open questions remain to be addressed in the coming years, including whether AI will fundamentally transform music in society or instead be gradually absorbed and normalized within contemporary musical cultures, practices, and market models

29. / 30. September 2025, Weimar
Kick-off meeting of the network

21. bis 23. September 2023
Musik in der spätmodernen Gesellschaft
Krisen – Chancen – Transformationen

International Conference, Festsaal Fürstenhaus,
Music University Franz Liszt Weimar
Platz der Demokratie 2/3, Weimar

Programm
Donnerstag 21. September 2023

13:50 Uhr Tagungseröffnung

14:00 Uhr
Martin Pfleiderer, Weimar:
Musik in der spätmodernen Gesellschaft.
Krisen – Chancen – Transformationen

14:45 Uhr
Carsten Wernicke, Berlin:
Musik und Luxus

16:00 Uhr
Theresa Vollmer / Michaela Pfadenhauer, Wien:
Der Kanon des Chorischen

16:45 Uhr
Marlene Behrmann, Weimar/Friedrichshafen:
(Nicht-)Formalisiertes Verhalten, informelle Gespräche und andere Erlebnisverstärker im klassischen Konzert.
Eine qualitative Analyse des Konzerterleben

Freitag, 22. September 2023


9:00 Uhr
Andreas Gebesmair, St. Pölten:
Neue Intermediäre, alte Strategien?
Die Musikindustrie in der Plattformökonomie

9:45 Uhr
Christofer Jost, Freiburg:
Musik im expandierenden Clip-Universum. Über die Bedeutung medialer Formen in der Plattformökonomie

9:45 Uhr
Christofer Jost, Freiburg:
Musik im expandierenden Clip-Universum. Über die Bedeutung medialer Formen in der Plattformökonomie

11:00 Uhr
Michael Ahlers / Jan Herbst / Carsten Wernicke, Lüneburg / Huddersfield / Berlin:
Songwriting in spätmodernen Gesellschaften. Netzwerkbildungen von Schlafzimmer-Individuen bis Gruppen-Fließbändern

11:45 Uhr
Steffen Just / Jens Gerrit Papenburg, Bonn:
Temporalisierung und Verräumlichung.
Zum Verhältnis von Klang und (Spät-)Moderne

14:00 Uhr
Sarah Chaker, Wien:
Straßenmusik in Zeiten des Post-Neoliberalismus. Eine vergleichende Analyse behördlicher Regulierungspraxis in kreativen Städten

14:45 Uhr
Anina Paetzold, Berlin:
Time to Rise: Die Ungleichzeitigkeit des Gleichzeitigen in der kambodschanischen Popmusik

16 Uhr
Melanie Schiller, Groningen:
Funny Extremism or Putting the ‘Neon’ in Neo-Nazi: An Exploration in Metamodernism, Nostalgia and Post-Irony through Swedish Fashwave Music

16:45 Uhr
Moritz Ege, Zürich:
The Hyperpop Conjuncture? Gegenwartsversprechen und -diagnosen zwischen Pop und Kulturwissenschaft

18:00 Uhr
Hartmut Rosa, Jena:
Von Metal-Monstern und Hardrock-Engeln: Musik als Resonanzsphäre der Spätmoderne

Workshop

In drei Arbeitsgruppen wurden Thesenpapiere zu drei Themengebieten ausgearbeitet, die im Schlussplenum vorgestellt und diskutiert werden sollen.

Zeitplan

Donnerstag, 21. September

18-19 Uhr
Kick-Off-Treffen der Arbeitsgruppen

Samstag, 23. September

9 Uhr
Arbeitsphase der drei Arbeitsgruppen
11:30 Uhr Kaffepause

12 Uhr
Ergebnispräsentationen im Plenum und Abschlussdiskussion
13 Uhr Ende der Veranstaltung

Arbeitsgruppe 1
Theorien der spätmodernen Gesellschaft: Perspektiven für die Musiksoziologie

Arbeitsgruppe 2
Ökologische Nachhaltigkeit und Musikleben

Arbeitsgruppe 3
Funktionen und ästhetische Dimensionen von Musik in der Spätmoderne

Planung und Organisation der Tagung:

Marlene Behrmann
Steffen Just
Martin Pfleiderer
Sean Prieske
Carsten Wernicke
Wolf-Georg Zaddach

Veranstaltet vom

Institut für Musikwissenschaft Weimar-Jena,
Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar
Platz der Demokratie 2/3, D-99423 Weimar