Hello Abigail and all,
That is a very interesting topic.
The historically most important phenomenon concerning spiders and music is tarantism, a performative act of trance-like dancing in certain parts of Italy that in contemporary thinking was connected with being bitten by a spider (said to be a tarantula, hence tarantism and also the well known tarantella). There is a vast topic on research on this phenomenon. Very influential was De Martino, Ernesto (2005): The Land of Remorse: A Study of Southern Italian Tarantism. 1st ed. London: Free Association Books, originally in Italian from the 1960s.
Nowadays, artist Tomás Saraceno often collaborates with spiders to create sculptural objects. David Rothenberg has partnered with Saraceno to perform with spiders, see Rothenberg, David (2018): “Spider Music.” PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art. 40/1 (118), pp. 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1162/PAJJ_a_00392.
As I said, it is a huge topic. I have 40 Zotero entries on Tarantism alone.
Kind regards,
Martin
That is a very interesting topic.
The historically most important phenomenon concerning spiders and music is tarantism, a performative act of trance-like dancing in certain parts of Italy that in contemporary thinking was connected with being bitten by a spider (said to be a tarantula, hence tarantism and also the well known tarantella). There is a vast topic on research on this phenomenon. Very influential was De Martino, Ernesto (2005): The Land of Remorse: A Study of Southern Italian Tarantism. 1st ed. London: Free Association Books, originally in Italian from the 1960s.
Nowadays, artist Tomás Saraceno often collaborates with spiders to create sculptural objects. David Rothenberg has partnered with Saraceno to perform with spiders, see Rothenberg, David (2018): “Spider Music.” PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art. 40/1 (118), pp. 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1162/PAJJ_a_00392.
As I said, it is a huge topic. I have 40 Zotero entries on Tarantism alone.
Kind regards,
Martin