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The Drawing Room: CORNELIUS CARDEW: PLAY FOR TODAY - 5 Nov 2009 to 13 Dec 2009 Current Exhibition |
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Cornelius Cardew, �Treatise� (1963-7),
� Hinrichsen Edition, Peters Edition Limited, London |
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CORNELIUS CARDEW: PLAY FOR TODAY 5 November � 13 December 2009 Private view Wednesday 4 November, 18.30 � 20.30 This exhibition pays tribute to the work of the experimental British composer Cornelius Cardew [1936�1981] and to the activities of the Scratch Orchestra [1969-74]. It presents a selection of the various forms of graphic expression that were vital to the development of Cardew�s ideas, from the abstract forms of �Treatise�, through to diagrams and visual instructions, letters and transcripts of discontent, song lyrics and finally to the more functional agitprop role of graphics as the conveyer of political message. Cardew studied at the Royal Academy of Music in the late 1950s and afterwards worked as an assistant to composer Karlheinz Stockhause in Cologne. He was responsible for introducing the work of American avant-garde musicians such as John Cage and La Monte Young to European audiences. Cardew�s blueprint for Treatise (1963-7) is central to the exhibition. In this 193-page graphic score Cardew uses lines, symbols and abstract shapes in a bid to release the performer from the constraints of traditional musical notation. Schooltime Compositions (1967) is an opera that marks Cardew�s progression towards �music as an expression of human relations� which was realised to the full through the Scratch Orchestra, whose membership included artists associated with Fluxus, musicians and non-musicians. This group represents one of the most radical forms of improvisatory, cross-disciplinary and collective art-making of this period. During 1970-1 Scratch Orchestra concerts and happenings, some carefully planned and others impromptu, took place throughout the country, in town halls, on the street, outside Euston station, in the National Gallery or on the London Underground. The Scratch Books kept by Scratch Orchestra members resemble the artist�s sketch book, a place where new, unresolved and fleeting ideas are captured and stored for later use. In 1971-2 Cardew became engaged in a radical reconsideration of all his work up to this time and adopted a Marxist-Leninist position. He thoroughly revoked the ethos of the Scratch Orchestra and many of his earlier endeavours in his book �Stockhausen Serves Imperialism� (1974), turning his back on avant-garde artistic practices he embraced political militancy, and used classical and folk traditions to inspire the composition of lyrical protest songs. The exhibition is a collaboration with M HKA, Antwerp. An exhibition, co-curated by Grant Watson and Adrian Rifkin, was presented at M HKA, Antwerp, in summer 2008. CARDEW WEEKEND IN COLLABORATION WITH THE ICA Play for Today: Cornelius Cardew � a symposium 21 & 22 November 2009, ICA, London The questions and contradictions that Cardew�s practice incorporated will be replayed and re-evaluated for their contemporary relevance. Conceived in collaboration with the ICA, this symposium forms part of their Calling Out Of Context season. Events and participants include: Talks � John Tilbury (musician, Cardew collaborator and biographer) � Beatrice Gibson (artist) Performances � International sound collective Ultra-red and the School of Echoes: The Cardew Object, a 10-hour performative inquiry into Cardew�s work � Cornelius Cardew: selected piano works, performed by John Tilbury � Cornelius Cardew: Autumn �60 and The Great Learning (Paragraphs 3 and 6), directed by Dave Smith (musician & Scratch Orchestra member) and John Tilbury Two panel discussions and a jamming session with � Lawrence Abu Hamdan (artist and musician) � The Otolith Group (artist-duo) � John Levack Drever (sonic artist) - Andrea Phillips (Director, Curating Architecture, Goldsmiths College, University of London) � Adrian Rifkin (Professor of Art Writing, Goldsmiths College, University of London)) � Dieter Roelstraete, (Curator, M HKA) � Rob Stone (Senior Research Fellow, Visual Culture Research Group, Middlesex University) � Marcel Swiboda (Lecturer in Cultural Theory, University of Leeds) � Grant Watson (Curator, M HKA, Antwerp) For full details and booking information please visit www.ica.org.uk and follow link to Calling Out Of Context Play for Today: Cornelius Cardew � a book In this 112 page book co-published by The Drawing Room and M HKA, Antwerp, extracts from Treatise, Schooltime Compositions, Nature Study Notes and other visual material are interspersed with essays by Michael Parsons, Andrea Phillips, Adrian Rifkin, Rob Stone, John Tilbury, Ultra-red and Grant Watson and a photo-essay by the Otolith Group. These artists, writers and curators pursue and rekindle the questions and contradictions that Cardew�s practice incorporated. Price: �20. The book and symposium are in collaboration with M HKA, Antwerp and Middlesex University. For further information please contact Mary Doyle (mary @drawingroom.org.uk) or Kate Macfarlane (kate @drawingroom.org.uk) or call The Drawing Room on 020 7729 5333. |
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