Cover, Custom, and DIY? Memetic Features in Multimedia Creative Practices

Abstract

It is not unusual nowadays to attend a concert of contemporary music in which live performers and video projection are juxtaposed or truly interact. Internet video-sharing platforms and social media contribute to shape the way these materials are filmed and presented to the audience. My paper focuses on two composer-performers dealing with these kinds of technologies and audiovisual logics: Brigitta Muntendorf and Óscar Escudero. I pay attention to their respective pieces Public Privacy #1: Flute Cover (2013) and Custom #1 (2016). Beyond the inconsequential coincidence of a hashtag in their titles, some similar aspects of their creative processes are found, from the compositional conception to the interaction with performers for personalising the videos. I particularly consider theoretical elements of memetics for a diachronic observation of several creative choices. Finally, I evaluate the impact of participatory culture in the gestation of these pieces.