In this seminar, we will explore instruments as media of music and science. Gut strings, synthesizers, vacuum pumps, organs, tape recorders, tuning forks, oscilloscopes were all shaped by their historical and geographical contexts and used as tools for knowledge production. We will consider a variety of cases throughout history, seeking to understand how instruments shape knowledge, art, and experience. In the process we’ll arrive at a media-centred perspective on the joint history of music and science. We will investigate the meanings of instrumentality, artificiality, mechanization, interface, and tinkering in a variety of object-centred contexts. This seminar will introduce key readings on instruments, materiality and media history, while also providing students the opportunity to investigate their own instruments and experiences.
Hausarbeit
