* Note: Due to safety measures regarding Covid-19 this event has a limited capacity of 20 people. Please be punctual to be assured a place. We are doing all we can to keep you safe.

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For this end-of-residency presentation at Q-02 we will listen collectively to some sound works / multi-channel compositions (electronic / electroacoustic) and I will talk shortly about a research I have been doing since January 2019.

The starting point of this project is an attempt to look at the evolution of electronic music not only through its musical perspective, but rather in regard to the political, economic, cultural and technological context that surrounds its emergence. This is why, within the framework of this project entitled “State Music”, I visit different early electronic music studios and conduct an open-ended research.

I record interviews and discussions, create visual and audio documentation and I try to visit the archives when it’s possible. I’ve been visiting EMS in Stockholm, Eletronski Studio of Radio Belgrade, KSYME in Athens, Willem Twee Studios in Den Bosch near Eindhoven in the Netherlands, and IPEM at the University of Ghent. Cultural politics, national radios, private foundations, public fundings, computer systems manufacturers, research laboratories, television broadcast, modernist design, military industries and cultural imperialism are a some of the many ways to understand the fundamental elements of this form of music.

My goal is also to spend a good amount of time composing electroacoustic music on the old analogue equipment. It’s an important part of this research. It’s not about fetishisation of vintage instruments but rather a way to develop a sensory approach to electronic machines and technologies from that time. I also use the collected material to create sound works for exhibitions, and during the residency at Q-02 I’m  mixing my first solo LP with compositions recorded on Serge, EMS, ARP and Buchla modular synthesizers systems, analogue test equipment and analogue computers.

Nevertheless, this research will continue with a visit at the Computer Music Center of Princeton-Columbia University in New York City.

‘The history of electronic music is also the history of radio’
Ksenija Stevanović, musicologist, journalist and producer at Radio Beograd 3

— interview 08.11.2019