Crossing borders in musical iconography : current themes, goals and methodologies

The short text introduces the IMS Study Group on Musical Iconography Study Session, replacing it within the field of musical iconography as a cross-border discipline par excellence within a larger intercultural perspective. Eight presentations by Study Group members coming from Austria, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the U.S.A. will address different case-studies—together with relevant new methodological insights, perspectives, and forward-looking recommendations. Conceived within the overarching framework of the IMS Congress, this session draws together approaches premised upon orientalism, exoticism, and the pertinent mechanisms of identity construction from a (post-)colonial perspective. In addition to these core themes of “East and West” the session will also highlight less obvious, yet equally effective demarcation lines such as playing vs. singing, theory vs. practice, awareness vs. ignorance of sound and its impact on the visualisation of music.