The Department of Music Theory and the History of Silesian Music Culture at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław invites you to participate in the Scientific Conference "Spirituality in Music – Music in Spirituality." The deadline for submission of applications is November 30, 2023.
The conference will take place on April 23-24, 2024, at the Academy's premises, during its 75th anniversary year, in Wrocław at Plac Jana Pawła II 2.
The organizers invite active participation from music theorists, musicologists, composers, performing artists, religious scholars, theologians, and philosophers whose research and artistic work are related to the theme presented in the event's title. The goal of the meeting is to confront positions, observations, and insights, to present individual and collective research results, as well as to conduct discussions and strengthen bonds between academic and artistic centers across Poland.
The guiding thought of the conference was expressed by Bohdan Pociej: “Music, like art in general, is an expression of human spiritual activity, and in this sense, it can be said that every music (if it truly deserves to be called music) is 'spiritual.'" Another thought was expressed by Leonardo da Vinci: "Where the spirit does not cooperate with the hand, there is no art."
The thematic spectrum of the conference includes, but is not limited to:
- The problem of terms, meanings, and contexts (e.g., spirituality, sacredness, religiosity, metaphysics, spiritual minimalism – in musical art);
- The presence of music in various forms of Christian spirituality (monastic, Pentecostal, Marian, etc.) as well as universal or pre-Christian and post-Christian spirituality – in the spirit of ecumenism and from a religious studies perspective;
- Expressions of metaphysical, religious, or mystical spirituality in the musical art of all eras and styles;
- Metaphysical reflection in music and (in) religious music;
- The expression of spiritual ideas by the creator or community – through musical means, as well as the search for spirituality through creation;
- The ontology of the musical work, issues of “longings and desires” (B. Pociej) and the influence of the Spirit (W. Dilthey, et al.), spiritual reflexivity of the form and content of the work, universals (good, truth, beauty) in musical art;
- The relationship between God / the Absolute / infinity and the creator and their work;
- The problem of time (e.g., narrative, open, or contemplative) in music;
- Aspects of the form and content of the work in the context of spirituality (declarative and hidden content);
- Analysis of word-music texts and the relationship between musician and text in religious or spiritually oriented works;
- The functions and pragmatics of musical art in institutionalized religious spirituality;
Other theoretical-musical, musicological, and philosophical issues directly related to the theme of the event.
The conference language will be Polish. The presentation of the paper, including musical examples, should not exceed 20 minutes, with an additional 10 minutes allocated for discussion.
The active participation fee is 300 PLN (payment must be made after receiving information about the acceptance of the paper, to the specified bank account). Participants or the institutions they are affiliated with are responsible for covering their own costs related to participation. Passive participation as an attendee is free of charge.
After the conference, the organizers plan to publish the presented papers in a multi-author monograph, available both in print and electronically.
This invitation is extended to independent researchers as well as to PhDs and doctoral students in science and art.
Those interested in actively participating in the conference are asked to send an email with a completed application form (available soon on the Academy’s website, also attached to this notification), along with the title of the presentation, an abstract (up to 1500 characters), and a short biography (up to 500 characters) by November 30, 2023, to:
Notification of acceptance for active participation will be sent by January 30, 2024. The organizers reserve the right to select papers in the case of a high number of submissions.
The conference is part of the project "Quo vadis, musica? – Between Mission and Obligation in the Context of the Third Millennium," funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Cultural Promotion Fund.
"Quo vadis, musica? – Between Mission and Obligation in the Context of the Third Millennium" is a two-year project (2024-2025) that includes a series of conferences on musical art, focused on the mission and obligations of the artist-musician and educator in the contemporary world. The aim of the series is to address these issues with particular attention to the creative process and music education in the context of third millennium music.
Scientific and Organizational Director of the Conference
Prof. Tomasz Kienik
