Monthly Archives: May 2018

Defragmentation – Curating Contemporary Music

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 […]

Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival 2017

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 […]

SPOR Festival for Contemporary Music and Sound Art

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 […]

Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival 2015

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 […]

Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival 2013

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 […]

Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival 2010

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 […]

nyMusikk / Happy Days Sound Festival

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.