Week 5 Forum - Negativland

I really enjoyed Stephen's Negativland presentation. Watching him nod his head happily and quietly sing with his opening track was an absolute joy (and treat).

For me, Negativland was a chance to think about the nature of satire and humour in art. I'm sure Stephen would agree with me that there is a place for jokes in music (The other Steven has been known to exclaim that Haydn is a very funny man). I think that Negativland's strategy of satirising everything whether they have a problem with it or not has good spirit because they are also satirising themselves and the idea of satire at the same time as making a point. I agree that "Christianity is Stupid" probably does not represent Negativland's actual opinion on this religion and in fact they are possibly making fun of the idea of satirising or complaining about religion. I am not offended at all by their work because I think they it is obvious that they are never entirely serious.

That said, I think that some works were clearly more serious than others. For me, 'My Favourite Things' was the most light-hearted while 'Guns' was the most pungent and affecting (and not very funny).

Thanks!

Reference: Stephen Whittington. "Week 5 Music Technology Forum - Negativland." Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 28 August 2008.