Echtzeitmusik. The social and discursive contexts of a contemporary music scene Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades doctor philosophiae (Dr. phil.) eingereicht am 30. Mai 2012 an der Philosophischen Fakultät III der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin von Marta Blažanović Präsident der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Prof. Dr. Jan-Hendrik Olbertz Dekan: Prof. Dr. Bernd Wegener Gutachter: 1. Prof. Dr. Peter Wicke 2. PD Dr. Christa Brüstle Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 12. November 2012 Acknowledgements I couldn‘t have written this dissertation completely on my own. I would like to thank everyone who made it possible: my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Peter Wicke, for accepting to supervise a dissertation with this subject; my second supervisor, PD Dr. Christa Brüstle, for her time, valuable advice and support with finding the right approach; the DAAD, Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia, Alfred Töpfer Stiftung F. V. S. and Humboldt University, for their financial support to realize this project; my colleagues from the Institute for Musicology and Media Studies of the Humboldt University, for their inspirational feedback during my work in progress and moral support during the process of research and writing; all the musicians, curators and others involved in the Echtzeitmusik scene, who supported my research, shared their insider scene knowledge with me, answered my questions, and invited me to concerts and discussions; my friends, for taking care of my social life and relaxation during the time of writing; my parents for their love, understanding and full support to do what I wanted to; my husband for always being there for me, providing an immensely important moral and emotional support, especially through the stressful last phase of writing. Thank you. Berlin, May 2014 i Table of Contents 1 The Echtzeitmusik scene: an introduction .......................................... 1 1.1 What is ‗Echtzeitmusik‘? ............................................................................. 5 1.2 Framework of research ............................................................................... 7 1.2.1 The scene as the object of study .................................................... 9 1.2.2 Framework ..................................................................................... 12 1.2.3 Material and method ..................................................................... 19 1.3 Structure of the thesis ............................................................................... 22 2 Contexts and backgrounds ................................................................ 24 2.1 Related discourses ..................................................................................... 24 2.1.1 John Cage and experimental music ............................................. 26 2.1.2 (Free) improvisation ..................................................................... 29 2.1.3 Contemporary related scenes ...................................................... 33 2.2 Post-wall Berlin .......................................................................................... 37 2.2.1 Off-culture ...................................................................................... 38 2.2.2 The squatter origins ...................................................................... 41 2.2.3 Gentrification and change ............................................................ 43 2.3 Cultural policy: The ―freie Szene‖ in Berlin today ................................ 44 3 History, aesthetics and discursive contexts of Echtzeitmusik ........... 49 3.1 Backgrounds: the Berlin squatter culture .............................................. 50 3.2 Beginnings: Anorak ..................................................................................... 52 3.3 Profiling: 2:13 Club ...................................................................................... 58 3.3.1 Reaction towards improvisation ................................................. 60 3.3.2 Composer-performer .................................................................... 63 3.4 Radical aesthetics: The Berlin Reductionism ......................................... 65 3.4.1 Origin and problem of the label ................................................... 68 3.4.2 The work with sound, playing strategies and the connection to Cage ............................................................................................. 69 3.4.3 Reduction and questions of free improvisation and form ....... 74 3.4.4 Reasons, meaning at the time and echoes .................................. 77 3.5 Reestablishment of the scene and stylistic ramifications .................... 81 3.6 Reception .................................................................................................... 89 3.7 Self-defining a scene .................................................................................. 94 4 The scene and the practice ...............................................................102 4.1 Structures ................................................................................................. 103 4.2 Capital ....................................................................................................... 106 ii 4.2.1 Capitals in the Echtzeitmusik scene .......................................... 109 4.2.2 Symbolic capital, legitimation and symbolic power ............... 112 4.3 Positioning of the scene .......................................................................... 115 4.3.1 Economic aspects of the scene ................................................... 118 4.3.2 The scene‘s autonomy ................................................................. 122 4.3.3 Newcomers and the structural change ..................................... 125 4.4 Discourse ................................................................................................... 127 4.5 Discourse in the Echtzeitmusik scene ................................................... 130 4.5.1 The nature of the scene‘s discourse .......................................... 131 4.5.2 The role of discourse for the scene ........................................... 133 4.5.3 (Self-)labelling .............................................................................. 137 4.6 Discursive fields, communities and elites ............................................. 140 4.7 Distinction and difference ...................................................................... 144 4.8 Community of practice ............................................................................ 146 4.9 Regulation of practice ............................................................................. 149 4.9.1 Habitus .......................................................................................... 150 4.9.2 The scene life and the musician‘s habitus ................................ 154 5 Conclusion ........................................................................................158 6 Bibliography .....................................................................................163 7 Appendix...........................................................................................175 Basic research material .................................................................................. 175 Appendix 1. Burkhard Beins: Über Reduktionismus (2010) ....................... 177 Appendix 2. Robin Hayward, clarifying a new concept for improvisation ........................................................................................... 180 Appendix 3. Robin Hayward, on Cage. .......................................................... 182 Appendix 4. Robin Hayward, before Germany vs. in Germany. ................ 186 Appendix 5. Robin Hayward Interview Transcription ................................ 188 Appendix 6. Andrea Neumann, e-mail. ......................................................... 192 Appendix 7. Andrea Neumann: Development of the inside piano (2008) 195 Appendix 8. Gregor Hotz Interview Transcription ..................................... 198 Appendix 9. Clayton Thomas‘ definition of music played in KuLe and ausland ....................................................................................................... 200 iii 1 The Echtzeitmusik scene: an introduction The Echtzeitmusik scene is a contemporary music scene that emerged in Berlin in the mid-1990s. Far removed from ―official‖ culture, the scene was for a long time hidden in the basements and backyard spaces of (former) squats (cf. Gottstein 2010), where only a relatively small circle of musicians and the occasional listener were engaged in what seemed like quite an unusual musical practice. For the most part, the music was improvised and highly experimental in approach, although it did undergo transformations over time: at first free and unrestrained, it entered a barely audible, highly reflected upon phase, very often quiet but noise-like, before emerging in the richly detailed and eclectic form found today. Also, what began as a small, homogenous, comprehensible and locatable community of musicians evolved into a broad and musically diverse scene stretching across several Berlin districts in small, often temporary venues. The sense of community and commonality, as well as identification with the term ‗Echtzeitmusik‘ and the ideas it stood for, would also change in form and degree over the ensuing years. The Echtzeitmusik scene and its music seem very much a product of their historical