Gender and Technological Failures in Glitch Music

Bibliographic Data

ID3858905
AuthorsHannah Bosma (corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume35
Issue1
Pages102-114
Publication date2016-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary Music Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0749-4467 • E-ISSN: 1477-2256
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07494467.2016.1176789
OpenAlexW2466205764
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited29

Currently, there is a (re-)emergence of theoretical work on glitch in art and culture. With its ‘aesthetics of failure’ and Deleuzian theoretical orientation, glitch music seems to stand for an alternative approach to sound technology and music that does not conform to hegemonic masculinity. However, closer inspection reveals that many aspects of glitch are conventionally gendered as masculine: mostly male protagonists; a narrow focus on technology, tools and innovation; a tendency towards abstraction and minimalist (quasi-)modernist aesthetics. ‘Failure’ features in glitch music as a heuristic device and serves as the basis for the development of a new style or movement, new ‘territories’, new techniques, new software tools and new sound material. Through recording, processing, editing and sequencing, the glitches are domesticated. The masculinity of glitch music is one of men creating new practices and opportunities in a male environment. While the alternative conception of sound technology displayed by the work of female artists such as Huba de Graaff and Cathy van Eck is broad and hybrid and takes the situatedness of its practices into account, glitch music displays a narrow notion of both technology and music

Aesthetics · Art · Glitch · Hegemonic masculinity · Masculinity · Popular music · Sociology · Telecommunications · Visual arts · Computer Science · Cybernetics and Technology in Society · Gender Studies · Music History and Culture · Music Technology and Sound Studies