Documentation

Source the Cause
Sound, Music, Politics & Ideology Today

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw invites visitors to a series of radio programs as part of the Department of Presence cycle.

The radio program “Source the Cause” is an investigation into the new grammars of political and social engagement used by today’s musical practitioners. Inspired by a 1969 survey published in Source. Music of the Avant-Garde, we are asking contemporary composers, producers, performers and sound artists the lead question once more: “Have you, or has anyone ever used your work for political or social ends?” Our aim is to go beyond the avant-garde niche by questioning the very idea of “new music,” and the white/male/Western perspective reproduced by critics, curators, festivals, institutions and the music industry. We believe that our times marked by financial and environmental crises, the rise of “post-fascism” and anti-immigration politics, make “sound for sound’s sake,” or music as an entertainment practice, incongruous. How can music, or sound in general, take part in the structural changes needed to create more equal and open societies?

In addition to the discursive element (spoken text answers) “Source the Cause” includes sound pieces selected by the invited practitioners. Guests include Raven Chacon, Bill Dietz, Cedrik Fermont, Jacqueline George, Gülce Özen Gürkan, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Harrga, Elsa M'bala, Baly Nguyen + Tara Transitory, Soundwalk Collective, Terre Thaemlitz, Ultra-red and Hong-Kai Wang.

Presenters: Mattin, Paweł Nowożycki

The audition is carried out in cooperation with IMI Radio.