MCICM Research lines
The MCICM will function, first, as a knowledge centre and source for interdisciplinary research and, second, as a laboratory for experiments and practical input for the classical music sector. The Centre will design experiments involving existing music practices that will lead to social innovation and new business models, while it will also develop (Eu)regional and international consortia and collaborative partnerships with other institutions. Moreover, it will serve as a switchboard between relevant research networks within Maastricht University and Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, specifically the Maastricht Conservatory and the Centre for Arts, Autonomy and Public Sphere (Lectoraat Autonomie en Openbaarheid van de Kunsten), which are part of the Zuyd Faculty of Arts.
Interdisciplinary research at the interface of art, knowledge, and society
MCICM will conduct interdisciplinary research on such themes as cultural participation, the influence of digital technologies on symphonies and the co-occurrence of preservation and application of sounding heritage. In this way, the centre will contribute to two research programmes within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences that focus on the role of science and technology in social innovations and on the significance of art, literature and media in cultural reproduction processes. In addition, the new centre will also contribute to research on art and heritage conducted at the interfaculty Maastricht Centre for Arts and Culture, Conservation and Heritage (MACCH).
Philharmonie zuidnederland as a laboratory
Philharmonie zuidnederland serves as a symphonic laboratory for MCICM. The orchestra will appoint a working group consisting of musicians and staff members to support MCICM. The orchestra will also produce and implement the projects that arise from the MCICM collaboration. All of the orchestra’s talents and resources are available for use. The goal, according to Stefan Rosu, is 'to make open innovation possible and develop new business models for the symphony in collaboration with researchers.'
Innovative research workshops for art education
The practical experiments in this symphonic laboratory will be carried out by researchers, lecturers, students, musicians and citizens. Bachelor's and master's students, particularly those from the classical music department at the Maastricht Conservatory, will participate in innovative experiments that focus on the exploration of different forms of audience participation and experience. The Research Centre for Arts, Autonomy and Public Sphere (AOK) has been using this educational approach since 2012 and refers to it as 'researchstudios'. With the help of MCICM, the Faculty of Arts is thus reinforcing the close connection between practical research and education centred on two core themes of the Research Centre AOK: the relationship between art and society and the development of the practice of artistic research.
Regional relevance
MCICM is significant for the future of the southern Netherlands. The Euregional collaboration and opportunities for language development and creativity will help to attract students, creative entrepreneurs and knowledge workers to the region. MCICM will play a facilitating role in this by innovating cultural participation and experimenting with new forms of inclusivity. Makers will have the opportunity to develop their skills and try out new forms of entrepreneurship. Over the next ten years, the institute will develop into a knowledge centre for innovative symphonic music at the European level. MCICMs innovative ideas will enrich cultural life and become indispensable to the quality of life in the thriving province of Limburg.
International database for innovative initiatives
The MCICM collects and disseminates knowledge and information about classical music cultures. It does so by making up an inventory of relevant academic research as well as relevant practical experiments with new concert formats. This inventory will have the form of an international database for innovative initiatives and an international network of partner institutes.
Research line 1:
Orchestrating social relevance
Classical music as an art form has always reflected and interacted with the societal context in which it developed. What does this mean for classical music in 21st century societies? How do societal changes, e.g. the focus on experiences in what is called the ‘experience society’ have an impact on classical music as a practice? And how can classical music institutions, and especially the symphony orchestra, have an impact on societal issues such as social cohesion or regional development? These questions will be answered by studying how musical artefacts, institutions and practices operate as socially and politically shaping forces, both historically and in contemporary societies.
The MCICM intends to study these topics not in a vacuum, but by mobilizing its location in the Euregion. This region is characterized by a tension between the ambition to be an internationally oriented knowledge region, and the desire of many to rediscover and nurture the cultural character of their own cities and regions. This tension offers possibilities to experiment with encounters between musical worlds of people of differing social and cultural backgrounds and the role the symphony orchestra could play in this. In order to organize these experiments, innovative research designs have to be developed, drawing not only on academic research, but also on approaches from design research and artistic research. This approach resonates with what has been labeled ‘embedded humanities’, humanities research that co-evolves with practical problems.
Research projects
Research line 2:
Modernising cultural participation
Whereas classical music has always renewed itself as an art form, the presentation or staging of this art form in concert halls before attentive listeners has more or less remained unchanged since the nineteenth century. More than in any other art form, the listener to live classical music seems to be passive: silent and immobile. Many have identified this style of listening as an important reason for the declining interest in classical music concerts. How can we rethink and innovate the ways in which audiences participate in classical music concerts? Recent studies and experiments in audience development and participation have focused on digital technologies to enhance the quality of the concert experience.
People are guided through a performance, audiences can get an impression of a piece before a concert, and revisit it after the concert was played. This raises questions: how do digital technologies give rise to new aesthetic forms, and how can digital aesthetics provide a structure for the social and cultural participation of concert audiences? Recent research on cultural participation suggests that new technological mediations of classical music concerts do not automatically lead to developing the cultural competences that allow audiences to give meaning to classical music and relate it to their own situations. This research line connects to a broader body of critical Science & Technology Studies (STS) research that aims at unpacking the notion of ‘participation’, and the role that digital technologies play in enabling it, while at the same time using insights from this research to develop creative futures for classical symphonic music.
Research projects
Research line 3:
Adapting sounding heritage
Symphonic ochestras are institutions of cultural reproduction. They take care of our sounding heritage. But the decline of the classical music practice indicates that the meaning and importance of this heritage is no longer beyond dispute. How to find new ways of making classical music artistically relevant in 21st century societies? This assumes that heritage is given new uses, and is related to new contexts. This research line will build a database of initiatives taken by musical institutions to stage their products in innovative ways.
Theoretically, it relates to research on heritage conservation and creating new strategies of access to heritage. Innovative cultural dynamics often evolve around new presentations and re-enactments of the past. How can the innovation of symphonic classical music be related to the rediscovery or musical cultures of the past? Central to this research line is the notion of adaptation as a core strategy in cultural reproduction.
Research projects
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Research line 1:
Orchestrating social relevance
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Research line 2:
Modernising cultural participation
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Research line 3:
Adapting sounding heritage
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