Defended Doctoral Theses

DEFENDED DOCTORAL THESES

Article received on April 27th 2018 cial paradigm through an analysis of socio- Article accepted on May 16th 2018 political circumstances and main tenden- UDC: 78.037/038(043.3)(049.32) cies in music and arts in the last decade of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st cen- RADOŠ MITROVI* tury. The year 1989 was taken as (the be- University of Arts in Belgrade ginning of) the end of postmodernity be- Faculty of Music cause it marked (the beginning of) the end Department of Musicology of the block conflict, bearing in mind that postmodernity has been defined in a spe- THE END OF POSTMODERNITY IN cific historical context of the Cold War pe- EUROPEAN MUSIC AND ITS riod. This year represents the starting point DEPENDENCE ON SOCIO- for further analysis of the fate of postmo- POLITICAL AND ARTISTIC dernity, which looses its vitality and sus- CONTEXT tainability in new sociopolitical surround- ings. After the introductory part, where the map of the dissertation is drawn and the The central idea of this dissertation1 was to critical points are accentuated, the text is problematise the questions of the end of developed through four large chapters. postmodernity as a cultural and wider so- The first chapter, “Problem of the Post- * Author contact information: modern”, lays out the basic premises and [email protected] elaborates them through an analysis of the 1 Doctoral dissertation has been defended 12 theories of Lyotard, Fukuyama and Cooper. Jan 2018. As Lyotard’s postmodern theory is one of Commission: Mirjana Veselinović-Hofman PhD the earliest general theoretical works in (mentor) Full Time Professor – retired (FMA), postmodernity, this dissertation starts with Vesna Mikić PhD, Full Time Professor, Marija its critique, in the aim of pointing out its Masnikosa PhD, Associate Professor (FMA), Biljana Leković PhD, Assistant Proffesor failures and problematic conclusions which (FMA), Miodrag Šuvaković PhD, Full Time did not have a foothold in historical reality, Professor (FMC, Singidunum University). i.e. which ignored the context of the Cold

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War. By proclaiming the end of history in postmodern from different ideological po- 1989 in the article End of History? Yoshi- sitions, i.e. offer new frameworks in which hiro Francis Fukuyama marked the col- the problems of the post-postmodern pe- lapse of the postmodern utopia, which in- riod could be discussed. cluded the rhizomical structure of power, In the third chapter, ‘Social and Politi- the abolition of metanarratives, the relativ- cal Theories After Postmodern’, the disser- ity of historical truth and the belief in a glo- tation presents the theories of the ‘third balised society. In Fukuyama’s writing this way’ and the ‘risk society’ of Anthony Gid- collapse of postmodern utopia is inter- dens and Ulrich Beck, the theory of glo- preted in a utopian way – by formulating balisation of John Ralston Saul, the theory the idea of the end of history. Robert Coo- ‘Empire’ of Hardt and Negri, the theory of per, on the other hand, writes that the post- radical democracy of Chantal Mouffe, modern still remained in geopolitics thanks David Harvey’s co-revolutionary theory, to the thesis on the existence of postmod- the participatory platforms of Michael Al- ern states and their superiority over modern bert, and the emancipatory ideas of popu- and pre-modern states. By merging, in a lism by Ernest Laclau. Special emphasis is manner of speaking, the previous two theo- placed on the works of Ernest Laclau and ries Cooper concluded that postmodern his idea of populism, which in reality states are those that have reached the end showed its vitality and provided a clear de- of history, and now have an obligation to parture from Western-centric economic and protect themselves from inferior countries social models. by all (imperial) means. The ultimate es- Drawing a parallel between socio-polit- tablishment of the unipolar order was nev- ical circumstances and tendencies in art, ertheless brought into question by reality which are closely related to the criticism of itself, when different (geopolitical) ‘cracks’ postmodernism, the fourth chapter (“Aes- appeared within the global system. thetic Theories after Postmodernism”) con- The second chapter, entitled “The New siders various remodernistic tendencies in Political Paradigm at the End of the 20th art (altermodernism, metamodernism and Century”, discusses the issues of socioeco- remodernism), as well as specific artistic nomic and geopolitical turmoil in the world poetics close to the transhumanist and post- – the emergence of socialism in Latin humanist movements. These are important America, the rise of Germany in Europe, movements that are in close connection and the establishment of the BRICS organ- with a kind of ‘technofanaticism’ which isation, which are undoubtedly symptoms had an important place in the theoretical of the establishment of multipolar global thought at the end of the 20th century. Pre- relations. The dissertation proceeds to fol- sented in contrast to this ideological prism low and reconsider the line(s) of theory is the technosceptic theory of postfuturism, that problematise the social issues arising which is in turn related to the idea of estab - from the global order described in such a lishing autonomous artistic practices, such way. As postmodern is defined through a that would oppose the semiocapitalist form prism of ideology, the work presents alter- of the social system which is in favour of native theories that offer a criticism of the technological progress.

208 Defended Doctoral Theses

Following this line of thought the dis- Article received on April 10th 2018 sertation considers the poetics of Voren Article accepted on May 16th 2018 Neidich and Arvo Pärt, authors who use UDC: 789.983"1972/2010"(043.3)(049.32) specific ‘subversive’ strategies of an ‘as- cetic’ relation to the system. Another part MILAN MILOJKOVI* of the dissertation is devoted to the concept University in Novi Sad of ‘second modernism’, the only mani- Academy of Arts festly proclaimed movement that can be Department for Musicology and registered in the post-postmodern period Ethnomusicology that is related to music. After presenting its characteristics and a case analysis, the con- DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN clusion is drawn in the form of the last sub- SERBIAN ARTISTIC MUSICAL section which is called the “Theory of the OUTPUT (1972–2010)1 Period after Postmodernism”. Through a critical examination and re-examination of Mikhail Epstein’s idea of postmodernity The main subject of this work is the analy- and Terry Smith’s idea of contemporaneity, sis and contextualisation of changes in the this dissertation proposes a new theoretical implementation of digital technology in paradigm – Shilly-shally-ism – (shilly- compositional practice in Serbian artistic shally: irresolute, undecided manner)3, as a music. The aim of the text is to form a mu- kind of interregnum period, marked by a sicological narrative about Serbian com- general social fluctuation and stylistic in- puter music based upon the succession of stability in arts. technological and musical innovations, re- The paper thus outlines a map of diver- lying on the general progress in this do- gent theories and artistic practices in an at- main and related theories worldwide. tempt to position music in a complex social The thesis starts with a review of the and cultural environment, as well as in an period preceding computer music, present- attempt to offer a clearer understanding of ing details about early electroacoustic the period after postmodernity, and to for- mulate a new term that would be adequate * Author contact information: milanmuz@ for defining it. gmail.com 1 The dissertation was produced under super- vision of Dr. Vesna Mikić, Professor at Fac- ulty of Music in Belgrade and defended on March, 1st, 2018 before a committee compris- ing, apart from Dr. Mikić, following mem- bers: Dr Mirijana Vese linović-Hofman, retired professor at Faculty of Music in Bel- grade, Dr Miško Šuvaković, Professor at University ‘Singidunum’, Dr Biljana Leković, Professor at Faculty of Music in 3 Ahttps://www.merriam-webster.com/diction- Belgrade, and Dr Mladen Marković, Profes- ary/shilly-shally sor at Faculty of Music in Belgrade.

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