Defragmentation – Curating Contemporary Music is a research project aimed at enduringly establishing the debates currently ongoing in many disciplines on gender & diversity, decolonization and technological change in institutions of New Music, as well as discussing curatorial practices in this field. Supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the research is being jointly initiated […]
An Open Ending Rituals are often defined as actions which have symbolic significance, and which are repeated in a particular, predictable manner. They can be connected to important transitional moments in people’s lives, or practices linked to social upheavals. After leading Ultima through eight editions, it feels natural to finish with a programme which revolves […]
A Call to Listen The Austrian poet Stefan Zweig lived his life in a period of high political tension in Europe. Nevertheless, he was unshakable in his belief in a European project, individual- ism and how art and culture have a crucial meaning for how we see each other and our own selves, and how […]
SPOR Festival for Contemporary Music and Sound Art Guest Curator Programme notes LISTENOUTLOUDNEIGHBOUR! SPOR 2012: SPEAK UP is the title of this year’s festival – an art-musical examination of folk culture that cuts across time, genres and national borders. Be part of it when music goes into a clinch with the distinctive sounds of folk […]
Nature and Human Beings Music is closely related to the natural sciences, both in the way it’s conceived and perceived. Ever since the Stone Age, physics, psychology, astronomy and biology have inspired humans to create music, just as they do today. Whether it’s technological inventions that enable us to explore acoustic principles, psycho-acoustic research, the […]
The nation: Who do you think you are? Norwegian music history follows the development of Norway as a nation. In his book Med spark i gulvet og quinter i bassen, Harald Herresthal describes how music was used as a national and political tool in the years between 1770 and 1870. Music, art, and language were […]
OFF-ROAD I spent Norway’s Constitution Day at the landfill in Asunción, capital of Paraguay, home to the young members of The Recycled Instruments Orchestra of Cateura. Playing the violin is not the most obvious pastime for the inhabitants there; nevertheless, using instruments made from recycled waste, this orchestra has be come a cornerstone in the […]
The List – Listen Jeg elsker lister, og er hjelpeløs uten. Handlelister, to-do lister, spillelister, best-of lister, ønskelister, alle er de sentrale i mitt liv. I så stor grad at jeg vil påstå følgende, selv om det kan høres ut som en i overkant nerdete fetisj: En liste kan være et utmerket sted for eksistensiell […]
Craftmanship Recently we have seen a renewed interest in craftsmanship through the growth of art movements like DIY (do it yourself) and craftivism. these do not focus on the traditional idea of solid craftsmanship but on the political, on independence through self-production, and as a counterweight to the demands of consumer culture to hire someone […]
Simple and complicated Exercises de style by Raymond Queneau is a book where one simple tale about a man on a bus is rewritten in 99 different versions. as short stories, poems, plays, sonnets, in mock Italian and a number of other forms. the book, which is also included in the Ultima programme this year, […]
Between 2003 and 2009, Hagen served as President and Artistic Director for nyMusikk, Norway’s centre for experimental music and sound art, and the Norwegian section of ISCM, International Society for Contemporary Music. During this time, he co-curated five editions of Happy Days, including one edition hosting Nordic Music Days.