Dr Ed McKeon
Ed McKeon works with musicians and artists at the points where music indiscipline's others —whether theatre, installation, or performance—collaborating with artists from Pauline Oliveros to Heiner Goebbels, Elliott Sharp to Jennifer Walshe, and Kuljit Bhamra to Brian Eno.
He led an MA programme on Music Management at Goldsmiths from 2013 and completed his PhD on musicality and the curatorial in October 2021. His book Heiner Goebbels and Curatorial Composing After Cage was published by Cambridge University Press in November 2022. As a Research Fellow at BCU he is exploring shifts within historicity from the 1960s through musical and more-than-musical practices.
Areas of Expertise
- Aesthetics and philosophy of music and art
- Contemporary musicology
- Contemporary art and curatorial theory
- Live music production
- Arts management
Qualifications
- PhD ‘Making Art Public: Musicality and the Curatorial’ (Oct 2021)
- MRes (2015)
- MA (1995)
- BA Hons (1993)
Memberships
- Vice-Chair, British Section, International Society for Contemporary Music
- Trustee, the Hinrichsen Foundation
- Artistic Sub-Committee, NMC Records
Teaching
From 2013, Ed led an MA module on Music Management at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Research
Ed is examining ways in which recent music and arts practices address issues of historicity and articulate temporal experience. As a Research Associate with the Science Museum Group, he is exploring the relationship between technological, instrumental, and musical development, and the presentation of music and sound within museum contexts. He is investigating the links between Art schools, Pop music, and experimental music practices for Riffs journal.
More broadly, his research considers ways in which musical practices and metaphors – such as listening, voice, rhythm, harmony, composition, tempo, and attunement – can provide valuable resources for seemingly ‘non-musical’ issues.
Postgraduate Supervision
Ed has supervised MA dissertations and major projects at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Publications
Books
Heiner Goebbels’ and Curatorial Composing After Cage: From Staging Concerts to Musicalising Events. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-1-009-33760-1. DOI: 10.1017/9781009337618. 2022. https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/heiner-goebbels-and-curatorial-composing-after-cage/272476587065948F549B40F09C2D333F#metrics
Book Chapters
‘After Words.’ Introduction to Pauline Oliveros, Sonic Meditations, Kingston, NY: PoPandMoM. (Commissioned by Pauline’s widow.) ISBN: 978-1-0880-3853-6. 2023. https://popandmom.org/products/pauline-oliveros-sonic-meditations
“Listening With-Towards in the Gallery.” In The Listening Reader, edited by Sam Belinfante and Joseph Kohlmaier, 49-54, London: Cours de Poétique, 2016.
Articles
'Cura, the Curatorial, and Paradoxes of Care.’ Performance Research Journal (27/6-7), 174-182, (July 2023). DOI: 10.1080/13528165.2022.2198322. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13528165.2022.2198322
‘Die Vergangenheit ist nicht mehr das, was sie einmal war.’ Translated by Michael Steffens. Positionen 135, 14-21, (May 2023). Published online in English, June 2023. https://www.positionen.berlin/post/the-past-isnt-what-it-used-to-be-tendencies-in-sound-art-and-klangkunst
‘Heiner Goebbels’ Max Black’. Study guide for undergraduates commissioned by digitaltheatre.com (March 2023)
‘Editorial.’ As Guest Co-Editor for a special issue of the Journal of Sonic Studies on ‘Voice and Listening: Techniques for Political Life’. 2023. https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1926440/1926441
‘Migration and Listening: Political Life in Motion’. Co-authored with Ximena Alarcón for the Journal of Sonic Studies (2023). https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1756075/1756076
Review of Jean-Paul Martinon, Curating as Ethics, TURBA 1:2, 111-113 (Sept 2022). DOI: 10.3167/turba.2022.010207
‘Moving Through Time’. APRIA (online, Sept 2022). https://apria.artez.nl/moving-through-time/
“Coming to our Senses: from the birth of the curator function to curating live arts.” TURBA 1:1, 33-52, (Jan 2022). ISSN: 2693-0129. DOI: 10.3167/turba.2022.010104
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/turba/1/1/turba010104.xml
“Taking the Temperature,” review article, TURBA 1:1, 140-142, (Jan 2022). ISSN: 2693-0129. DOI: 10.3167/turba.2022.010117
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/turba/1/1/turba010117.xml
“The Concept Album as Curatorial ‘Medium’: Colin Riley’s In Place.” TEMPO 75, 46-56, (2021). DOI:10.1017/S0040298220000947
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/tempo/article/abs/concept-album-as-curatorial-medium-colin-rileys-in-place/2CDFCE85859DA7EA8CBEA07361799AF6#article
Other
Liner notes for Carl Stone: Electronic Music from 1972-2022, Unseen Worlds. (Released 4 Aug 2023). https://unseenworlds.com/products/carl-stone-electronic-music-from-1972-2022
Composer features in BBC Proms: The Official Guide, 15 July – 10 September 2016, 86-95, London: BBC, 2016.
Conferences
22 Sept 2022. 11th RMA International Conference in Music and Sonic Arts. Middlesex University. ‘Compose Yourself: Pauline Oliveros and the Reconfiguration of Subjectivity’.
22 April 2021. MCICM Creating Classical Music Futures, Maastricht University / online. ‘The Future of Classical Music’s Future’.
Media Work
Ed was a presenter of BBC Radio 3’s flagship new music programme, Hear and Now.
Work With Industry
Ed regularly sits on panels for the London Symphony Orchestra, Help Musicians UK, and others. He is an adviser to the Third Orchestra, Little Missenden Festival, and Luigi Castiglioni Editore.