Dejan Sretenović: Red Horizon: The Avant-Garde and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1919–1932 (2021)

12 August 2021, dusan

Red Horizon is the first study to focus on the Yugoslav avant-gardes from the perspective of the history of left-wing political ideas. Bearing in mind that the Yugoslav avant-gardes were politically oriented towards the radical left, and considered the aesthetic revolution an integral part of the social revolution, the book explores the modes of manifestation of the ideas of Marxism and anarchism in the programmes and activities of the avant-gardes, ranging from Expressionism, through Zenitism, Dada, Hipnism, Constructivism to Surrealism. The policies of the Yugoslav avant-gardes are considered in the context of European avant-garde currents and ideational struggles on the left cultural front, as well as in the light of the development of Marxist aesthetics and the attitudes organised Communism assumed towards modern art. The book is structured in the form of a historical-theoretical narrative, starting from the interpretation of the avant-garde and Communism as the two great epic narratives of the 20th century, and telling of the rebellions, dreams, conflicts, victories and defeats of those who wanted to radically change the society and art of their epoch.”

Publisher kuda.org, Novi Sad, 2021
Red Publications series
Translated by Katarina Radović
ISBN 9788688567244
228 pages

Publisher

PDF (4 MB)

Gordon Mumma: Cybersonic Arts: Adventures in American New Music (2015)

13 May 2021, dusan

“A candid account of a broad artistic community by an active participant and observer

Composer, performer, instrument builder, teacher, and writer Gordon Mumma has left an indelible mark on the American contemporary music scene. A prolific composer and innovative French horn player, Mumma is recognized for integrating advanced electronic processes into musical structures, an approach he has termed “Cybersonics.”

Musicologist Michelle Fillion curates a collection of Mumma’s writings, presenting revised versions of his classic pieces as well as many unpublished works from every stage of his storied career. Here, through words and astonishing photos, is Mumma’s chronicle of seminal events in the musical world of the twentieth century: his cofounding the Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music; his role in organizing the historic ONCE Festivals of Contemporary Music; performances with the Sonic Arts Union; and working alongside John Cage and David Tudor as a composer-musician with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. In addition, Mumma describes his collaborations with composers, performers, dancers, and visual artists ranging from Robert Ashley and Pauline Oliveros to Marcel Duchamp and Robert Rauschenberg.”

Edited with Commentary by Michelle Fillion
Foreword by Christian Wolff
Publisher University of Illinois Press, November 2015
ISBN 9780252039430, 0252039432
xxxiv+339 pages

Reviews: Eric Smigel (Intersections, 2015), Daniel Barbiero (Avant Music News, 2016), Aurelio Cianciotta (Neural, 2016).

Publisher
WorldCat

PDF (updated on 2022-11-21)

Robert Ashley: Music with Roots in the Aether (1975/2000)

3 May 2021, dusan

Music with Roots in the Aether is a series of interviews with seven composers who seemed to me when I conceived the opera-for-television piece–and who still seem to me twenty-five years later–to be among the most important, influential and active members of the so-called avant-garde movement in American music, a movement that had its origins in the work of and in the stories about composers who started hearing things in a new way at least fifty years ago.” (from the Foreword)

With interviews with and essays about David Behrman, Philip Glass, Alvin Lucier, Gordon Mumma, Pauline Oliveros, Roger Reynolds, Terry Riley and Robert Ashley.

Publisher MusikTexte, Cologne, 2000
ISBN 3980315169, 9783980315166
244 pages

Opera reviews: Norbert Osterreich (Perspectives of New Music, 1977), Arthur J. Sabatini (MFJ, 2004).

Publisher
Distributor (Lovely Music), Video programme
WorldCat

PDF (76 MB)
Videos, MP3s (1975-1976, on Ubuweb)
Program brochure (1979)