States of flux

Led by Roddy Hawkins, this research group exists to enable networking, share work-in-progress and advance interdisciplinary conversation on the contemporary in contemporary music cultures. Based around online research group meetings, we are particularly concerned to spotlight and promote the work of early-career researchers and those experiencing precarity in their research and practice.

The history of the last half century is one of rapid change the very phrase 'a state of flux' has become a journalistic shorthand used to capture all manner of things that result from actual or perceived societal, political and ecological volatility. But 'states of flux' also speaks to scholarly interests in the contemporary arts, to the medium and study of sound in particular, and as a characterisation of established paradigms, disciplines and approaches used both in general terms and specifically in relation to music, art, culture and society in the recent past.

In the increasingly unstable climate of the 21st century, there is a sense of urgency and struggle over the terrain of the contemporary. The destabilisation of our world, and our ideas about it, have exerted myriad influences on methodological and theoretical innovation in the study of art and culture. As the number and range of entanglements multiply – and the exploration of previously neglected or minor practices continues – established categories and hierarchies for 'mapping' the contemporary appear increasingly outdated.

This situation requires us not only to develop our understanding of the ways in which different states of flux manifest themselves in art and culture, but also to consider how best to engage, critique and communicate (to the outside world, in our teaching and to our research communities) when our own paradigms are themselves in flux.

The group asks what practitioners and scholars of music, art and culture – especially those involved in 'writing culture' – might address in turning their attention to flux and related phenomena. It aims to encompass all aspects of music, art and culture wherever the question of 'the contemporary', its ideological formations and its entanglements proves problematical and productive.

There are currently three strands of investigation which seek to combine historical and contemporary perspectives:

• Organisation and labour forms in contemporary musics;
• Histories and practice of immersive audio and sound;
• Placemaking and community work in contemporary classical music.

If you wish to present your work-in-progress at a group meeting, or join our group, please contact roddy.hawkins@manchester.ac.uk.