Quevillon, Sacred Technologies: Numinous and Grotesque Symbolism of Electronic Music Devices in Instrumental Theater

This artistic research thesis investigates how music performance with electronicmusic devices, such as the loudspeaker, electric guitar, and amplifierconnects to ideas of the sacred. It combines theories from anthropology,religious studies, musicology, and the history of technology with my artisticpractice as a composer.In my research, I introduce a new concept of Symbolic Sound-ProducingGestures, inspired by composer Mauricio Kagel’s instrumental theater. Thisconcept serves as a compositional tool for shaping symbolic meanings thatemerge from the physical interaction between performers and instruments.C. G. Jung’s symbolic framework and Antonin Artaud’s vision of theatricalgestures as powerful symbolic forces guided my exploration of sacredsymbolism in the instruments, sounds, and expanded techniques used in myworks.I draw on sociologist Émile Durkheim’s sacred/profane dichotomy, ErikDavis’s book Techgnosis, and consumer researcher Russell W. Belk’s theoryof Sacred Consumption to examine the paradoxical entanglement of thesacred and the profane in contemporary consumer culture. In this context,although electronic music devices are inseparable from the profane worldof tools and consumption objects, they remain rich in sacred associationsbecause of their long history and diverse cultural manifestations. Moreover,through their capacity to channel vast amounts of energy, they can evokethe emotional intensity of the numinous: awe, dread, and mystery.I analyze three of my artistic works that exemplify how the stagingand use of electronic music devices in music performance can articulate theentanglement of the sacred and the profane. These artistic processes ultimatelyled me to the concept I call Grotesque Numinosity: an aesthetic lensthat embraces both awe and absurdity, finding intense experiences wherethe sacred and the profane fuse in the raw energy of electronic sound.