On 20 and 21 November, Axel Vatne Barratt-Due, Notam, the Norwegian Academy of Music and nyMusikk are organising a symposium for instrument making. Established instrument builders will meet to share knowledge and discuss their instruments and work processes. The symposium will take place at Notam and will present works by Cathy van Eck, Thorolf Thuestad with Alwynne Pritchard, Marije Baalman, Cecilia Jonsson, Harald Jordal Johannessen, Simon Løffler with Tanja Orning, Axel Vatne Barratt-Due, and Christian Blom.
The role of the instrument in contemporary music research has shifted, from simply translating a person’s ideas into sounds, to dramatizing music’s diverse relationships with the broader social forms of communication, desire, labour, power and time.
What can we achieve by understanding the instrument not as the cause of this shift, but rather as its limitation, as a manifestation of the inherent deficiencies and vulnerabilities of specific technical forms of emotion, perception, belonging and tradition? How can we redefine the "advances" in music technology for a time when humans are no longer considered exceptional in terms of authenticity, creativity or intelligence? What can instrument makers do to demolish the modern myths of technological salvation and extinction?
Concepts from the writing of twentieth-century researcher-activists Ursula Franklin and Gilbert Simondon will inform moderated discussions with invited artists about the evolving boundaries of instrument building practice.
The symposium follows a reading group initiated by Axel Vatne Barratt-Due in collaboration with music philosopher Patrick Valiquet, which took place at Notam from March to November 2025.
The event will be held in English. The symposium is a free event.
Thursday November 20th
Presentations and performances
Doors open at 11:30.
12:00 - 16:00:
Harald Jordal Johannessen
Simon Løffler with Tanja Orning
Christian Blom
Cecilia Jonsson
Marije Baalman
17:30 - 20:30
Cathy van Eck
Axel Barratt-Due
Thorolf Thuestad with Alwynne Pritchard
Friday November 21st
Seminar and panel discussion
Doors open at 09:30.
Panel discussion chaired by philosopher and musicologist Patrick Valiquet.
10:00 - 14:00:
Seminar and panel discussion.
Header photo: Detail from process photo "Inscription" by Thorolf Thuestad.
