Televisions. Historical Narratives of New Music on Television

In spring 2019 the MaerzMusik festival focused on the theme of history writing. As part of the festival, the project “Televisions” investigated how Western art music is represented in the medium of television. In what way has New Music become a subject of discussion on television? What other non-Western narratives have been omitted from this mass medium? And what types of discrimination still affect the area of contemporary music today?
A wide range of television genres and formats have been reviewed and analysed by the project team. These included biographical film portraits, concert excerpts and talk shows from the early days of television, when it became a mass medium in the 1950s, until around 1990. The television shows have been presented in a permanent media installation during the festival at the silent green Kulturquartier and in individual screening events. A number of conferences, panel discussions and workshops on the presented films has been held in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Researchers and artists were invited to discuss questions on gender equality and diversity in relation to the film material. A concert programme with works by such renowned composers as George E. Lewis und Elaine Mitchener has served to artistically explore the topic and the complex of films even further.

Artistic directors: Berno Odo Polzer
Writers/Artists: George E. Lewis (US), Ensemble Pamplemousse (Natacha Diels, David Broome, Josh Modney, Andrew Greenwald, Jesse Marino) (US), Elaine Mitchener (GB), Anke Charton (AU), Rolando Vázquez (MX) and others