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The Contemporary Avant-Garde: Classification, Organization, Spatiality and Practices of Resistance

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The Contemporary Avant-Garde: Classification, Organization, Spatiality and Practices of Resistance The Contemporary Avant-garde: Classification, Organization, Spatiality and Practices of Resistance Matthew John Spokes Doctor of Philosophy University of York Sociology September 2014 1 2 Abstract The intention of the thesis is to explore and make visible the sociological importance of contemporary avant-garde music by investigating the ways in which associated cultures are constituted through the interplay between technologically mediated forms of dialogue and destabilizing practices. Through the case study of hauntology, the present work explores the interrelationship between different participant groups (building on, and problematizing, aspects of Becker's Art Worlds) and how they negotiate and collaborate with one another. Methodologically-speaking, the thesis adopts multiple approaches to data collection and analysis in an effort to develop a series of conceptual research tools predicated on the partial connections and assemblages observed during field work. The research is participant-focused, dealing primarily with the ways in which these groups engage in meaning-making activities within their own interpretive frameworks. The empirical focus of the thesis is fourfold. In the first instance, this involves detailing classificatory work on genre and boundary formation as enacted by participants through differing forms of dialogue in a variety of virtual locations. Secondly, an assessment of the organizational structures developed by artists (such as the record label) and audience members (the archive) is undertaken, in an effort to understand how information is collated and stored and how the development of a mediated 'aesthetic', or metadiscourse, is facilitated by these systems. Thirdly, co- operation between social actors is examined in relation to spatial associations and participant-led acts of destabilization (read through the work of Lefebvre). Fourthly, practices of micro and macro-level resistance - including direct political activities, techniques of composition, intertextuality and engagement with cultural theory - are considered in relation to the other empirical foci. 3 4 Table of Contents The Contemporary Avant-garde: Classification, Organization, Spatiality and Practices of Resistance ................................................................................................................................ 1 Abstract .................................................................................................................................... 3 Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... 5 Illustration list (inc. video materials) ....................................................................................... 9 Accompanying material ........................................................................................................... 9 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 11 Author’s declaration .............................................................................................................. 13 Chapter 1 - Towards an exploration of the contemporary avant-garde ............................. 15 1.1 The sociological importance of the avant-garde ....................................................... 15 1.2 Hauntology - a case study .......................................................................................... 21 1.2.1 The validity of hauntology as a case study ............................................................ 23 1.3 Two hauntological records ......................................................................................... 25 1.3.1 Classification and organization .............................................................................. 30 1.4 Two hauntological performances .............................................................................. 32 1.4.1 Spatiality ................................................................................................................ 37 1.5 The avant-garde and practices of resistance ............................................................. 38 1.6 Empirical questions .................................................................................................... 40 Chapter 2 - Literature Review ............................................................................................... 45 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 45 2.2 Understanding the classification and categorization of music cultures .................... 48 2.3 Understanding the organization of music cultures .................................................... 53 2.4 The historical avant-garde: definitions and challenges ............................................. 62 2.4.1 Definitions .............................................................................................................. 63 2.4.2 Challenges .............................................................................................................. 65 2.5 The contemporary avant-garde ................................................................................. 67 2.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 73 Chapter 3 - Methodology ...................................................................................................... 77 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 77 3.2 Ontology and research ............................................................................................... 79 3.2.1 Bourdieu, the ‘field’ and the avant-garde .............................................................. 80 3.2.2 Becker and ‘art worlds’ .......................................................................................... 84 3.3 Identifying features: people, places, artefacts and activities .................................... 86 3.4 Epistemological approaches ...................................................................................... 90 3.5 Data collection ........................................................................................................... 93 5 3.6 Data analysis ............................................................................................................ 102 3.7 Ethics and informed consent ................................................................................... 106 3.8 Summary .................................................................................................................. 107 Chapter 4 - Classification and Categorization..................................................................... 109 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 109 4.2 Genre and classification ........................................................................................... 112 4.3 Boundaries and classificatory practices ................................................................... 117 4.4 Direct dialogue - message boards threads ............................................................... 118 4.4.1 The Whitechapel message board ......................................................................... 120 4.4.2 The Dissensus message board .............................................................................. 126 4.5 Indirect dialogue - Last.FM ...................................................................................... 133 4.6 How is hauntology classified? .................................................................................. 143 Chapter 5 - Organization ..................................................................................................... 149 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 149 5.2 Artist-led organization ............................................................................................ 153 5.2.1 A hauntological network: Ghost Box Records ...................................................... 155 5.2.2 A hauntological network - Interviews .................................................................. 162 5.3 Audience-led organization ...................................................................................... 169 5.3.1 The hauntological archive - found0bjects ............................................................ 172 5.3.2 The hauntological archive - Interview .................................................................. 182 5.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 187 Chapter 6 - Spatiality ........................................................................................................... 191 6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 191 6.2 The development of space in music cultures .......................................................... 194 6.3 The production of space .......................................................................................... 198 6.4 A case study - Netaudio 2011 .................................................................................
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