On 20-21 November 2025, a symposium for instrument building will be held here at Notam.

The symposium is a collaboration between Axel Vatne Barratt-Due, the Norwegian Academy of Music, nyMusikk and Notam.

How do instrument building practices affect the boundaries between music and technology, mechanics and the body, bio-economy and culture, singularity and the post-singular?

The Instrument Building Symposium is a platform to reflect on technological diversity and technology as practice. In November 2025, a group of instrument makers will gather at Notam to showcase works, instruments, installations and reflections to explore the post-digital landscape where instrument making functions as both an activist and technological practice. 

Participating artists are:
Cathy van Eck 
Thorolf Thuestad
Marije Baalman
Cecilia Jonsson
Harald Jordal Johannessen
Simon Løffler 
Axel Vatne Barratt-Due
Christian Blom

In connection with the symposium, Notam and Axel Vatne Barratt-Due have set up a reading group to jointly read and discuss the works. On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects by Gilbert Simondon and The Real World of Technology by Ursula Franklin. Music philosopher Patrick Valiquet leads the reading and contributes with perspectives. The reading circle will explore how the works are in dialogue with each other, and how they relate to the various instrument building practices that will be presented at the symposium. More information about the reading group can be found at here.

The symposium was initiated by Axel Vatne Barratt-Due in connection with her PhD project Vocal non-identities in a pneumatic post-instrumentality at NMH.

Photo: Kari Jahnsen