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Lectures in Musicology: Adam Buffington, Ohio State University

Artists
March 2, 2020
4:00PM - 5:30PM
18th Ave. Library, 175 W. 18th, Room 205

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Add to Calendar 2020-03-02 16:00:00 2020-03-02 17:30:00 Lectures in Musicology: Adam Buffington, Ohio State University Adam Buffington, Ohio State, presents “Teaching: The Craziest Form of Art” — Magnús Pálsson and The New Art Department. Chance has always been a decisive factor in the creation of art. Now artists have learned to use chance. That’s how they use their artistic minds to reach out beyond themselves and reach further than their own imagination could have made possible. That’s what the teaching of art is…Art is thus a part of the life of the artist. Or rather, art is the life of the artist. How general has art then become? How much a part of our life? Not only of the so-called artist but of all of our lives? From 1975 to 1981, Icelandic intermedial artist Magnús Pálsson (b. 1929) led the New Art Department at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts in Reykjavik. Establishing an interdisciplinary approach to arts education, The New Art Department represented the first institutional cultivation of an experimental arts pedagogy in Iceland, one rooted in Fluxus and other transnational artistic networks that arose during the mid-20th century. Immersing his students in contemporary concepts of experimental music, poetry, new media and performance, Pálsson also recruited renowned international artists as guest lecturers, with the participation of Robert Filliou, Dieter Roth and Hermann Nitsch having a profound impact upon the student body. Pálsson’s pedagogical innovations further manifested in the 1980s with The Summer Mobile Workshop, or MOBSHOP (which featured guest faculty such as Robert Filliou and Philip Corner). Such activities not only further exemplified Pálsson’s conviction that education was itself an indispensable art form, but also influenced an entire generation of Icelandic artists on how artistic practice could be conceived, embodied and disseminated. These ideas continue to define the Reykjavik arts community to the present day. Adam Buffington is a PhD candidate in musicology at The Ohio State University. He received a Bachelor of Music in theory and composition at West Chester University, and a Master of Music in composition from the Hartt School of Music. During a master’s exchange with Listaháskoli Íslands (Iceland University of the Arts), his artistic practice shifted to an emphasis on performativity and embodiment, with a subsequent creative and scholarly focus on Theatre of the Absurd, Fluxus, and 20th and 21st century performance art. His research has been published in Current Musicology, and has been presented at the American Musicological Society and Listaháskoli Íslands. His works have been performed at such venues as Real Art Ways (Hartford), Ely Center for Contemporary Art (New Haven), ROY G BIV Gallery (Columbus), Mengi (Reykjavik), and Reykjavik Art Museum (Kjarvalsstaðir). Lectures in Musicology is co-sponsored by The Ohio State University Libraries. Lectures are held Mondays at 4 p.m. in the 18th Avenue Library, 175 W. 18th Ave. (Music/Dance Library, second floor, room 205). These events are free and open to the public. Campus visitors, please use either the Tuttle Park Place Garage or the Ohio Union South Garage. All other garages in the vicinity of the 18th Ave. Library are closed to visitors before 4 p.m. Upcoming Musicology Events   18th Ave. Library, 175 W. 18th, Room 205 School of Music music@osu.edu America/New_York public

Adam Buffington, Ohio State, presents “Teaching: The Craziest Form of Art” Magnús Pálsson and The New Art Department.

Chance has always been a decisive factor in the creation of art. Now artists have learned to use chance. That’s how they use their artistic minds to reach out beyond themselves and reach further than their own imagination could have made possible. That’s what the teaching of art is…Art is thus a part of the life of the artist. Or rather, art is the life of the artist. How general has art then become? How much a part of our life? Not only of the so-called artist but of all of our lives?

From 1975 to 1981, Icelandic intermedial artist Magnús Pálsson (b. 1929) led the New Art Department at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts in Reykjavik. Establishing an interdisciplinary approach to arts education, The New Art Department represented the first institutional cultivation of an experimental arts pedagogy in Iceland, one rooted in Fluxus and other transnational artistic networks that arose during the mid-20th century. Immersing his students in contemporary concepts of experimental music, poetry, new media and performance, Pálsson also recruited renowned international artists as guest lecturers, with the participation of Robert Filliou, Dieter Roth and Hermann Nitsch having a profound impact upon the student body. Pálsson’s pedagogical innovations further manifested in the 1980s with The Summer Mobile Workshop, or MOBSHOP (which featured guest faculty such as Robert Filliou and Philip Corner). Such activities not only further exemplified Pálsson’s conviction that education was itself an indispensable art form, but also influenced an entire generation of Icelandic artists on how artistic practice could be conceived, embodied and disseminated. These ideas continue to define the Reykjavik arts community to the present day.

Adam Buffington
Adam Buffington is a PhD candidate in musicology at The Ohio State University. He received a Bachelor of Music in theory and composition at West Chester University, and a Master of Music in composition from the Hartt School of Music. During a master’s exchange with Listaháskoli Íslands (Iceland University of the Arts), his artistic practice shifted to an emphasis on performativity and embodiment, with a subsequent creative and scholarly focus on Theatre of the Absurd, Fluxus, and 20th and 21st century performance art. His research has been published in Current Musicology, and has been presented at the American Musicological Society and Listaháskoli Íslands. His works have been performed at such venues as Real Art Ways (Hartford), Ely Center for Contemporary Art (New Haven), ROY G BIV Gallery (Columbus), Mengi (Reykjavik), and Reykjavik Art Museum (Kjarvalsstaðir).



Lectures in Musicology is co-sponsored by The Ohio State University Libraries.

Lectures are held Mondays at 4 p.m. in the 18th Avenue Library, 175 W. 18th Ave. (Music/Dance Library, second floor, room 205). These events are free and open to the public.

Campus visitors, please use either the Tuttle Park Place Garage or the Ohio Union South Garage. All other garages in the vicinity of the 18th Ave. Library are closed to visitors before 4 p.m.

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