| dc.description.abstract | Communicative approaches to musical composition and performance promote
symbolic dialogue between performers and audiences, and seek to expand agency
for all participants. Such approaches include the altering of performance rituals,
the destabilizing of the performance space, and the use of interactive
compositional structures. This paper explores the relationship of communicative
performance practices to the social context in which they are conceived and
experienced. How can communicative practices address the issue of domination
while remaining truly dialogical? Pierre Bourdieu’s conceptions of the habitus and
the field of cultural production emphasize the strategic action of agents: agents act
in order to maximize real or symbolic capital. Jürgen Habermas readily
acknowledges the prevalence of strategic action in social relations and in private
speech acts, yet he argues in favor of communicative action as essential to the
rehabilitation of the lifeworld in a democratic society. However, since Habermas
pays little attention to the social status of speakers, his theory is vulnerable to the
charge of being universalist and transcendental. The author argues that
communicative performance practices create a dynamic space for the experience
of communicative action, conducted through verbal and non-verbal means.
Drawing on recent work of New Music New College, the author explains how issues
of domination can be made thematic in experimental composition and
performance, thus leading to reflexive awareness. In the context of the field of
cultural production, such practices take on a strategic function, taking a position in
the institutional debates about artistic and social value. | en_GB |
