Theory and Practice
Adriana Cavarero’s Theory of Vocality: The Operatic Voice Beyond Libretto View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Joy Harris
Adriana Cavarero is an Italian feminist philosopher who has spent her career developing a philosophy of uniqueness rooted in the irreproducibility, agency, and possibilities of our enfleshed, relational, and ontological bodies. A significant aspect of her philosophy of uniqueness is a reappraisal of philosophy’s historical attitude toward the human voice. Cavarero proposes a new political landscape that deprioritizes a videocentric, text-driven world in favor of an aural and vocal topography, where our uniqueness is revealed through our voice's materiality and sonorous beauty. Her approach to voice disrupts the semantic power of speech with the pleasurable power of voice. Fundamentally, Cavarero uses opera to ground her vocalic assumptions and elaborate upon her vocalic theory. More specifically, Cavarero uses opera to support two of her central presuppositions: the voice is unique, and the voice is gendered. She also uses opera to tease out three major tenants of her philosophy of vocality: that the voice obliterates the semantic power of words, that the ears are a neglected sensory organ, and that pleasure is to be found in the voice. This paper explores Cavarero’s vocality in the context of the “pure voice” practices of late-17th century, Venetian opera, particularly through the performances of Barbara Strozzi. Through this exploration we encounter the emergence of a new singing voice, one that escapes its authoritarian libretto in favor of a more expansive sonorous landscape.
Parrhēsia and Freedom of Speech on the Internet : What Can Socrates Teach Us? View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marita Brčić Kuljiš
The historical development of freedom of speech was not simple, but the struggle for freedom of speech was, and is, permanently present. Today, freedom of speech, as a fundamental human right, is incorporated into the constitutions of liberal democracies. It is considered one of the fundamental values of liberal democracy, which enables the actualization of both freedom and equality. In this, the Internet should have played a special role, which was originally conceived as a virtual space for open and free discussion. However, in parallel with the expansion of the (virtual) space of freedom of speech, we notice that the debates about online freedom of speech in liberal democracies have become very intense, and the polarization, bans, and conflicts indicate that there is a deep misunderstanding of what freedom of speech is. To be able to better understand the problems facing freedom of speech on the internet today, we revisit the Athenian democracy and Socrates to whom parrhēsia (Greek: παρρησία: παν = everything + ρησις /ρημα / speech) was the destiny.
Understand Your Rights and Know How to Protect Them: Intellectual Property in the Performing Arts
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session A. W. Brian De Silva
Many artists and performers do not understand their rights embodied in the works which they present. Many perceive it as either too expensive and/or too difficult to understand. Many countries adopt different approaches to this protection, and this only adds to the dilemma. My approach is first to consider the approach taken my country, which is to all intents and purposes the simplest approach. I go on to contrast the approach with that taken by the UK, Canada and the USA. Canada and the USA take a more progressive approach and have developed case law as precedent. I intend to shed a light on this dilemma of Intellectual property in the performing arts (dance) and show how to approach this dilemma across countries.
