BEING THERE Phenomenological approach to the atmosphere of live music performance

Abstract: In contemporary society, one is exposed to a myriad of visual outlets. Agreeing with scholars such as Mitchell, Mirzoeffand Belting,arguing that Visual Culture is not solely visual, my thesis is delving into the atmosphere of the phenomenon of live music performance. In live music performance, more than one aspect occurs. Live music performance is architecture, music/sounds, lights/visuals intertwined. Thesis scrutinizes multi-sensory experience, taking phenomenological approach to this matter. Being inspired by Husserl and Heiddeger, I am taking the initial idea of phenomenology and by using Susan Kozel’s approach to practice based research in arts - Susan Kozel reveals the steps in her online lecture for Malmö University, Sweden. Method is supported by Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht’s ideas from Production of Presence and Roland Barthes’ Rhetoric of the Image. As I claim that despite how we experience the phenomenon, we simultaneously make a meaning of what we see. However, I do focus on experience intuitively more. Reading forward, my theory is strongly based in the work of Gernot Böhme ‘The Aesthetics of Atmospheres’, which prevails in the theory part. I divide the theory in three parts -architecture, light and music. Method and Theory part will beapplied to empirical datathat I collected throughout February 2020 - three live music performances that happened at the venue of KoncertKirken in Copenhagen, Denmark. Thesis concludes with small discussion on live music vs. live streamed music (due to COVID-19 lockdowns) and by answering research questions that were posed in the Introduction part - how is atmosphere built ? And why does atmosphere play an important role?