Autonomy, Mimesis and Mechanical Reproduction in Contemporary Music

Abstract

The paper will discuss the use of sounds which have recognisable everyday origins within the context of the “autonomous” musical work. Using the methods of Adorno, the use of sounds for their readymade, mimetic force will be balanced against the efforts of musicians to control and harness such forces to form art works. The dialectical relationship between mimesis and rationality will be shown to find fresh vigour where the importance of mimesis is noted and exploited. It will be stressed that Adorno's perspective on the autonomy of the art work is left undiminished by such a process, and that such a perspective reveals new aesthetic possibilities in the techniques and technology normally associated with the formation of a monolithic and administered culture industry.

Keywords:

• mimesis
• Adorno
• autonomy
• mechanical reproduction
• technology