Miguel Ángel García, PhD in Anthropology, will give the lecture “Reflections on the New Virtuality of Music and Its Technologies” at the agora of Plataforma Cultural (Campus Juan Gómez Millas) on Monday, October 26, at 6:00 p.m. He is currently a Professor Emeritus (profesor consulto) at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Buenos Aires, a Principal Investigator at CONICET, and editor of the journal El Oído Pensante.

He previews his talk as follows: “With the digitization of sound and, later, the arrival of the Internet and artificial intelligence, the process of music’s virtualization has intensified markedly in two areas: the replacement of musical devices and instruments by software, and the creation of virtual soloists and bands, also called synthetic, that replace or represent musicians who are deceased (as in the case of Ecos Soda Stereo), living (ABBA Voyage), and fictional (The Velvet Sundown). The speed and scale this phenomenon is taking on seem to be leading to a paradigm shift in our relationship with sound, marked by simulation; deception; immersive, interactive, and collaborative experiences; the emergence of commodities that dispense with flesh-and-blood musicians; and many other new practices and experiences. The lecture will approach this phenomenon critically while offering a way to understand and organize the diversity that makes it up.”

This activity is part of Fondecyt Regular Project No. 1250444, “Conflicting Sonic Cultures: An Aural Study of Intercultural and Interspecies Coexistence in Urban and Rural Territories of Chile,” whose principal investigator is Carla Pinochet, with Laura Jordán and Ricardo Greene as co-investigators.

Lecture by Miguel Ángel García
Agora of Plataforma Cultural
Monday, October 26, at 6:00 p.m.
Campus Juan Gómez Millas, Universidad de Chile