1968-2008. Music and other arts between autonomy and functionalization. Perspectives and experiences 40 years after the "Prague Spring"
The realization that an event such as the "Prague Spring" must have left its mark on the delicate fabric of the fine arts formed the starting point for the planning of the symposium, which was ultimately to take place on 27 and 28 November 2008 at the Dresden University of Music under the title "1968-2008. Perspectives on Music and Other Arts between Autonomy and Functionalization".
In the course of the investigation, the focus quickly expanded from music to other areas of the fine arts. Moreover, it was no longer only the politically influenced spring that was to be examined, but the whole of 1968.
The question to be examined was what functions were ascribed to the arts in times of revolutionary upheaval. Were they part of the ruling order and thus subjected to politicization and instrumentalization? Or were they able to evade being brought into line? The price that art ultimately had to pay for its freedom was to be weighed up not least in the concluding discussion, "On the development of art in difficult times".
Under the direction of Dr. habil. Jörn Peter Hieckels (Dresden University of Music) in conjunction with Prof. Dr. Walter Schmitz (TU Dresden) and Dr. Stephan Nobbe (Goethe-Institut Prague), a large number of composers as well as musicologists and literary scholars from Germany and Eastern Europe were invited to provide a differentiated view of the investigation.
The discussion concert "Music from Prague", which took place on the evening of November 27, once again served to illustrate the circumstances with which the composer Marek Kopelent also had to contend.
The Dresden University of Music thus became a meeting place for music, art and science with the cooperation of the Central European Center of the TU Dresden and the Goethe Institute Prague.
Interview with Dr. habil. Jörn Peter Hieckel with Martin Jarde for Radio Prague online