Underlying Concepts
"When we create an instrument we shape a certain interpretation of the world, which once reified is able to produce a given effect on that world. Not only is this way of thinking being externalized, but even transferred to the tool, where it no longer needs to be activated by thought. Re-enchanting our tools means revising our thoughts and creating new ones, not necessarily redefining the tasks of the tools altogether, but reexamining their role."
James Bridle, New Dark Age, NERO, Rome 2019, p. 22 translated from italian by me:)
"Those composers who take the conscious road necessarily submit to the test of practice. They can no longer take refuge in beautiful ideas, elegance of manner, logical completeness, formal perfection or the ‘history of music’ (which has no existence separate from social history), and nor do they wish to.So the points we should discuss in connection with their works are: what are they saying in their pieces, to whom are they saying it, and whom does it benefit? What effect did they intend to achieve with such works and what effect are they actually achieving?"
Cornelius Cardew, Stockhausen Serves Imperialism, originally published in 1974, by Latimer New Dimensions Limited, London, ubu.com, Kenneth Goldsmith, 2004, p.69