As the year slowly turns to a close, I could almost forget that November Music has happened in, well, November. As a part of the new music festival, a new edition of the New Music Conference happened as well.
Among a great variety of sessions and talks, the New Music Conference 2023 also saw the continuation of Shifting Boundaries – Situating Contemporary Music Practices, a multi-year research that inquires into the rapidly shifting boundaries in contemporary music. The Shifting Boundaries project is a three-year collaboration between New Music Conference, November Music and seven professorships, about the demarcation of music (practice) by displacement. During the conference, further discussions took place in two panel discussions: “Disembordering the Musical Field” and “In harmony? How the co-creative wave inspires musical collectives”.
I am particularly happy to share that the first joint publication was presented, and is available for open access on the festival’s website: Shifting Boundaries. Situating Contemporary Music Practices. With an introduction by Peter Sonderen, the publication includes contributions from Joep Christenhusz, Veerle Spronck & myself, Janine Stubbe & Karolien Dons, and Paul Craenen & Michiel Schuijer.
Falk Hübner 