This three-day event explores the works and ideas of experimental British composer Cornelius Cardew and the activities of the Scratch Orchestra, a collaborative group of musically-trained and untrained participants engaged in radical modes of improvisatory and cross-disciplinary art-making. Cardew developed elaborate forms of graphic notation in an effort to liberate performers from the constraints of traditional music notation. His work also enables sound-based practices to shift political consciousness and provoke social action. Participants will explore these larger “ways of organizing," including interpretations of Cardew's The Great Learning (1968-71), in an informal structured environment that invites creative engagement and collaboration.
Cornelius Cardew (1936-1981) was a core figure of the British avant-garde of the 1960s and 1970s. A student of Karl-Heinz Stockhausen and a follower of John Cage, he formed the Scratch Orchestra with Michael Parsons and Howard Skempton in 1969 in London. Based on their experiments, Cardew published the book Scratch Music, now a classic resource for experimental musicians. In the late 1970s, Cardew became increasingly involved in a Marxist-Leninist discourse, eventually rejecting his own compositional work as elitist. Cardew died in a unresolved hit-and-run accident at the age of forty-five, estranged from most of his colleagues and challenged for his political convictions.
Inspired by The Cardew Object at the ICA London (November 2009), this weekend-long event is organized by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School as part of its 2009-2010 program theme “Speculating on Change." Vera List Center Fellow Robert Sember, a member of the sound-art collective Ultra-red and the School of Echoes, leads the colloquium and workshops in collaboration with faculty members from Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.
Colloquium: An Introduction to Cardew
Friday, April 9, 2010 - 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Wollman Hall, Eugene Lang College, 65 West 11th St. 5th floor (enter at 66 West 12th St.)
Admission: $8, free for all students, New School faculty, staff and alumni with valid ID
The colloquium will be launched on the evening of Friday, April 9, with focused presentations led by Vera List Center Fellow Robert Sember introducing the music and ideas of Cornelius Cardew. Glasgow-based artist Luke Fowler will screen his film Pilgrimage from Scattered Points, which explores the internal contradictions and struggles of Cardew's Scratch Orchestra through first person interviews, recent and archival footage and original recordings. Sound samples and collaborative discussion of Cardew's work will set the stage for the weekend events to follow.
Workshop: How Can We Organize Collective Listening?
Saturday, April 10, 2010 - 12:00 to 6:00 p.m.
The New School, Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, 55 West 13th St., 2nd floor
Admission: Free
New School faculty Ivan Raykoff and Evan Rapport will host public workshops developed in collaboration with the Eugene Lang College classes “New Ears for New Music" (Raykoff), “Punk & Noise" (Rapport), “Politics of Improvisation" (Danielle Goldman), and “Image/Text" (Simonetta Moro), plus the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music class “Improvisation in Cross-Cultural Perspectives" (Rapport). Workshop participants collect sounds in response to a specific question relating to local and current social or political concerns, then explore procedures for collective listening and organized action following some of Cardew's models. Public participation is encouraged.
Exhibition in the Skybridge Art & Sound Space
Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Exhibition Dates: Wednesday, April 14 to Monday, May 10, 2010
Skybridge Gallery, Eugene Lang College, 65 West 11th St. 3rd floor (enter at 66 West 12th St.)
New School faculty Simonetta Moro and Sarah Montague and their students in the “Skybridge Curatorial Project" present an exhibition celebrating Cardew's work and the events above. The Skybridge Art & Sound Space hosts multi-media exhibitions and curriculum-based projects in the arts, showcasing student projects that make the space a vibrant and exciting laboratory for visual, aural, and critical thinking.
Cornelius Cardew (1936-1981) was a core figure of the British avant-garde of the 1960s and 1970s. A student of Karl-Heinz Stockhausen and a follower of John Cage, he formed the Scratch Orchestra with Michael Parsons and Howard Skempton in 1969 in London. Based on their experiments, Cardew published the book Scratch Music, now a classic resource for experimental musicians. In the late 1970s, Cardew became increasingly involved in a Marxist-Leninist discourse, eventually rejecting his own compositional work as elitist. Cardew died in a unresolved hit-and-run accident at the age of forty-five, estranged from most of his colleagues and challenged for his political convictions.
Inspired by The Cardew Object at the ICA London (November 2009), this weekend-long event is organized by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School as part of its 2009-2010 program theme “Speculating on Change." Vera List Center Fellow Robert Sember, a member of the sound-art collective Ultra-red and the School of Echoes, leads the colloquium and workshops in collaboration with faculty members from Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.
Colloquium: An Introduction to Cardew
Friday, April 9, 2010 - 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Wollman Hall, Eugene Lang College, 65 West 11th St. 5th floor (enter at 66 West 12th St.)
Admission: $8, free for all students, New School faculty, staff and alumni with valid ID
The colloquium will be launched on the evening of Friday, April 9, with focused presentations led by Vera List Center Fellow Robert Sember introducing the music and ideas of Cornelius Cardew. Glasgow-based artist Luke Fowler will screen his film Pilgrimage from Scattered Points, which explores the internal contradictions and struggles of Cardew's Scratch Orchestra through first person interviews, recent and archival footage and original recordings. Sound samples and collaborative discussion of Cardew's work will set the stage for the weekend events to follow.
Workshop: How Can We Organize Collective Listening?
Saturday, April 10, 2010 - 12:00 to 6:00 p.m.
The New School, Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, 55 West 13th St., 2nd floor
Admission: Free
New School faculty Ivan Raykoff and Evan Rapport will host public workshops developed in collaboration with the Eugene Lang College classes “New Ears for New Music" (Raykoff), “Punk & Noise" (Rapport), “Politics of Improvisation" (Danielle Goldman), and “Image/Text" (Simonetta Moro), plus the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music class “Improvisation in Cross-Cultural Perspectives" (Rapport). Workshop participants collect sounds in response to a specific question relating to local and current social or political concerns, then explore procedures for collective listening and organized action following some of Cardew's models. Public participation is encouraged.
Exhibition in the Skybridge Art & Sound Space
Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Exhibition Dates: Wednesday, April 14 to Monday, May 10, 2010
Skybridge Gallery, Eugene Lang College, 65 West 11th St. 3rd floor (enter at 66 West 12th St.)
New School faculty Simonetta Moro and Sarah Montague and their students in the “Skybridge Curatorial Project" present an exhibition celebrating Cardew's work and the events above. The Skybridge Art & Sound Space hosts multi-media exhibitions and curriculum-based projects in the arts, showcasing student projects that make the space a vibrant and exciting laboratory for visual, aural, and critical thinking.
