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Listening to the Other, a new book by DXARTS Affiliate Faculty Stefan Östersjö

Submitted by Ewa Trebacz on November 25, 2020 - 11:30am
Listening to the Other, a new book by DXARTS Affiliate Faculty Stefan Östersjö
Listening to the Other, by Stefan Östersjö

Our contemporary, globalized society demands new forms of listening. But what are these new forms? In Listening to the Other, Stefan Östersjö challenges conventional understandings of the ways musicians listen. He develops a transmodal understanding of listening that is situated in the body—a body that is extended by its mediation through musical instruments and other technologies. Listening habits can turn these tools—and even the body itself—into resistant objects or musical Others. Supported by extensive multimedia documentation and drawing on examples from the author’s own artistic projects spanning electronics, intercultural collaboration, and ecological sound art, this volume enables musicians to learn how to approach musical Others through alternative modes of listening and allows readers to discover artistic methods for intercultural collaboration and ecological sound art practices.

Listening to the Other is closely linked to a series of cutting-edge artistic works. Across two chapters, Östersjö discusses his long-term collaboration with professor Richard Karpen, with reference to Nam Mai, a triple concerto by Richard Karpen recorded with the Seattle Symphony, and Strandlines for guitar and computer. Both of these works were created at DXARTS, when Östersjö has been in residence at the University of Washington. The publication also holds a number of films, including two works by DXARTS graduate student Adam Hogan. 

"I highly recommend 'Listening to the Other' to anyone who enjoys exploring new ways of thinking. Östersjö’s conversational writing style makes it feel like you’re sitting right alongside him on the riverbed, listening intently to his theories, as he adjusts the strings on the floating guitar, immersing us completely in his world."

Kris Rodriguez, Resonance (2020) 1 (3): 328–331.  https://doi.org/10.1525/res.2020.1.3.328 

Book link - Cornell University Press...

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