Person
Reader, Senior Lecturer
- Division of Intermedia Studies
- Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences
Contact information
E-mail mats.arvidsonkultur.luse
Phone +46 46 222 40 87
Visiting address
Helgonavägen 3, Lund
Postal address
Box 192, 221 00 Lund
Internal post code 30
Room C341
General researcher profile:
Cross-border, interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, dual, maybe even multiple research interests in the broad field of cultural science. This is how one might "categorize" my research profile – even if the concept of category itself risks creating problems. Possibly one might call me a "living" interactive category or a dynamic nominalist. Like a porous sponge, I absorb what the context has to offer – if it is interesting and important enough. Regardless, something always gets stuck in the sponge. Dirt can also be useful for the thought.
More specifically, I am an associate professor (reader) of musicology and a senior lecturer in intermedial studies. As an intermedialist, I position myself with my body and my senses not only on but also across borders and study the flow between them. Sometimes I also step into fields that lies beyond the artistic, such as medical humanities and philosophy. Thus, I am not without a discipline.
Research
My profile in Lund University research portal
- A Tonally Well-Organized Society or Anarchy? Aesthetical and Social Aspects of Swedish Art Music 1945–1960
- "The Medium is the Message": The CD and Vinyl Disc in the Digital Culture (research leader)
- The Crisis of Art and Culture. Art music and Technocracy in Swedish post-war II (research leader)
- Musical Work in the Post-Digital Age. Use and Control of Music in the Swedish Late-Modern Society (research leader)
- Spoken Word, Speaking Melody, and the Case of a Mediatized Performance (research leader)
- The Act of Life Choice: Between Ian Hacking and Bernard Williams (research leader)
- The Archaeology of Time Travel
- Varifrån kommer dessa ting som bara finns i drömmar? (research leader)
I am associate professor (reader) of musicology, senior lecturer in intermedia studies and active within a broad field of cultural sciences. This has led to a research activity that is multi- and interdisciplinary in nature, where music usually is in focus, but not solely. My research activities so far have moved in four overlapping areas:
- Music from the perspective of history of ideas and sciences
- Music and sound from an intermedial perspective
- Musicology and intermedial studies as fields of research
- Cultural sciences in a broad sense
My dissertation dealt with Swedish art music during the period 1945–1960 and focused on the debates about the social and aesthetic aspects of modern music (Måndagsgruppen). Research on music and sound from an intermedial perspective has varied: from studies of music's relation to record sleeves (Gustav Mahler and Gustav Klimt), to music and narrativity in instrumental music (Brad Mehldau) and the functions of music and sound in radio drama (The Unforgiven).
Musicology has increasingly become fragmented (specialized) in a variety of sub-fields. In recent years, the concept of media has taken on a greater role within the discipline. In this context, I have contributed with perspectives and have published texts concerning the relationship between musicology and intermedial studies. I see this relationship as central to my research science.
The fact that my research activities also move in the broad field of cultural sciences is partly a result of an open institution where collaborations across subject boundaries form a natural part of the activities through various research nodes (for example digital cultures, aesthetic studies, medical humanities and popular culture studies). This has led to two autoethnographic studies in the medical humanities (type 1 diabetes and colon cancer), as well as a collection of essays that revolve around the activities of the author, poet and philosopher Lars Gustafsson.
My current research continues in the above areas: on the one hand a number of case studies on the functions of music and sounds in radio drama, on the relationship between words and music, on mediatized performances, on cover version as intermedial phenomena, and on the other hand in-depth theoretical and methodological perspectives in the practice of interpretation (especially hermeneutic phenomenology).
Books (3)
- Arvidson, M. (2018). Jag tänker. Och jag är ändå inte alldeles säker på att jag finns till : Att spegla sig i Lars Gustafssons mikroskopiska värld - en fragmentarisk essäbok. Roos & Tegnér.
- Arvidson, M. (2016). An Imaginary Musical Road Movie : Transmedial Semiotic Structures in Brad Mehldau's Concept Album "Highway Rider". Lund Studies in Arts and Cultural Sciences, 10. Lund Studies in Arts and Cultural Sciences.
- Arvidson, M. (2007). Ett tonalt välordnat samhälle eller anarki? : estetiska och sociala aspekter på svensk konstmusik 1945-1960. Institutionen för kultur, estetik och medier. Dissertation.
Editorships (1)
Articles (4)
- Arvidson, M. (2020). The (inter)medial turn and musicology. Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning STM-SJM, 101. Svenska samfundet för musikforskning.
- Arvidson, M. (2016). Det autoimmuna jaget : om att sätta gränser. Socialmedicinsk tidskrift, 93, 280-287. Socialmedicinsk tidskrifts styrelsen/nätverk.
- Arvidson, M. (2016). Kunskap som förståelse genom artikulation : om den musikaliska tolkningens legitimitet. M&STE : elektronisk tidskrift för konferensen Musik & samhälle, 33-47. Lund University, Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper..
- Arvidson, M. (2012). Music and Musicology in the Light of Intermediality and Intermedial Studies. STM-Online, 15. Svenska samfundet för musikforskning.
Book chapters (7)
- Arvidson, M. (2019). Kolon : en essä om smärta, tid och väntan. In Höög, V., Kärrholm, S. & Nilsson, G. (Eds.) Lund Studies in Arts and Cultural Sciences, Kultur X : 10-talet i kulturvetenskaplig belysning (pp. 187-202), 24. Department of Cultural Sciences, Lund University.
- Arvidson, M. (2015). Efterord : Några intermediala och lärdomshistoriska reflektioner om ord om ljud. In Mossberg, F. (Ed.) Ord om ljud : Skriftställare om ljudmiljöer och ljud (pp. 65-71), 14. Ljudmiljöcentrum vid Lunds universitet.
- Arvidson, M. (2014). The Impact of Cultural Studies on Musicology Within the Context of Word and Music Studies: Questions and Answers. In Hart, H., Heady, K., Hinz, H. & Schirrmacher, B. (Eds.) Ideology in Words and Music (pp. 17-29), Stockholmer Germanistische Forschungen 79. Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis.
- Arvidson, M. (2013). Den apolliniska drömmen om en lycklig framtid. Kris i kultur och konstmusik i svensk efterkrigstid. In Arvidson, M., Hansson, K. & Geisler, U. (Eds.) Kris och kultur. Kulturvetenskapliga perspektiv på kunskap, estetik och historia (pp. 87-111). Sekel Bokförlag.
- Arvidson, M., Geisler, U. & Hansson, K. (2013). Introduktion : kulturvetenskapliga perspektiv på kris. In Arvidson, M., Hansson, K. & Geisler, U. (Eds.) Kris och kultur : kulturvetenskapliga perspektiv på kunskap, estetik och historia (pp. 9-27). Sekel Bokförlag.
- Arvidson, M. (2011). "Verbala och visuella aspekter i tredje symfonin". In Geisler, U. & Rosengren, H. (Eds.) ”MIN TID SKA KOMMA” GUSTAV MAHLER I TVÄRVETENSKAPLIG BELYSNING (pp. 91-108). Sekel Bokförlag.
- Arvidson, M. (2005). Två sidor av samma historia – sökandet efter sanningen. In Ahlstedt, E. (Ed.) Under ytan (pp. 27-31), 18. Göteborgs universitet.
Conference contributions (11)
- Arvidson, M. (2016). Naturvetenskapliga ideal i svensk elektronisk konstmusik.
- Arvidson, M. (2015). Är musik verkligen en sten? Några reflektioner över musikens epistemiska och ontologiska egenskaper.
- Arvidson, M. (2015). Word and Music Studies : Types of Word and Music Relations : A Few Case Studies. [Publication information missing].
- Arvidson, M. (2014). Transmedial Semiotic Structures in Brad Mehldau's Highway Rider. [Publication information missing].
- Arvidson, M. (2012). "Dysfunctional Disciplinary Boundaries, and the Need for a New Foundation Discipline?". In Hinz, H. (Ed.) [Host publication title missing]. Word and Music Association Forum.
- Arvidson, M. (2011). Musikverket i den postdigitala tidsåldern.
- Arvidson, M. (2010). Konstens och kulturens kris. Konstmusik och teknokrati i svensk efterkrigstid.
- Arvidson, M. (2009). Musik, ideologi och ekologi.
- Arvidson, M. (2009). Ut Pictura Musica och striden mellan konstarterna.
- Arvidson, M. (2008). Tidsandans intermedialitet: nedslag i den svenska konstmusikens idéhistoria.
- Arvidson, M. (2005). Historisk ontologi och svensk konstmusik.
Reviews (4)
- Arvidson, M. (2013). Recension av Den högre utbildningen. Ett fält av marknad och politik. Högre utbildning, 3, 75-79. Swednet.
- Arvidson, M. (2013). Recension av Ingemar Hedenius heliga rum. Sofokles. Kierkegaard. Mozart. Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning, 95, 191-193. Svenska samfundet för musikforskning.
- Arvidson, M. (2011). Det postdigitala manifestet. Hur musik äger rum. Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning, 93, 104-106. Svenska samfundet för musikforskning.
- Arvidson, M. (2008). Review: Changing Borders. Contemporary Positions in Intermediality. Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning, 90, 107-108. Svenska samfundet för musikforskning.
Miscellaneous (1)
Other tasks and qualifications
Reader, Senior Lecturer
- Division of Intermedia Studies
- Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences
Contact information
E-mail mats.arvidsonkultur.luse
Phone +46 46 222 40 87
Visiting address
Helgonavägen 3, Lund
Postal address
Box 192, 221 00 Lund
Internal post code 30
Room C341