Symposium Alert!

It is, in fact, quite possible that I have only ever read two books on popular music: Retromania and Words and Music. I only got about half way through the second one (I found Paul Morley too discursive, too confident in his reading of pop history) but I did download a mixtape by Strictly Kev that pretty much does what Morley wanted to do, only you can dance to bits of it.

Nevertheless, I am mildly excited by the 'The Future' Symposium that is going to happen in the CCA. It's connected to the current exhibition Tomorrow Never Knows, which has a look at the sort of nostalgia and recycling that Retromania and Words identify as the main process of modern music. They've got the two authors, Morley and Reynolds (and a bunch of other people to join in) up for a day to chat about the future. Here's the release...

Symposium: Sat 22 June, 10am – 5pm. £8

Writers and cultural commentators Simon Reynolds and Paul Morley join an array of artists and critics for screenings and discussions around the wider topic of ‘the future’. The full-day event accompanies the current exhibition Tomorrow Never Knows: Ed Atkins and Naheed Raza, in association with Jerwood/Film and Video Umbrella Awards, now on at CCA Glasgow.

There is an expression – one that has rapidly lapsed into cliché - that ‘the future is not what it used to be’. And, indeed, many of the cultural phenomena that are increasingly touted as the waves or the faces of tomorrow often seem to have a well-worn, familiar ring – as exemplified by the recent pre-eminence of ‘retro’, and a corresponding nostalgia for ‘futures lost’. 

That's pretty much the theme of Retromania: Reynolds is a bit sad about it, even as he enjoys some of the music that is coming out of the obsession with the past. I realise that my own relative boredom with popular music commences around the time Reynolds noticed its backwards drift - maybe there's a point when the critic simply gets old enough to remember the first time a certain sound came around. 

While all this may indicate that popular culture may be experiencing a terminal phase, going through the long-drawn-out encores of its own ‘end of history’, there are also contrasting signs that futurity itself might be staging a bit of a comeback; maybe coming round again as a predictable, or overdue, cultural reflex, but maybe also as a symptom of a tangible change in the air. If this were to be the case; what are the cultural and technological forces that are giving it shape, and what are the creative impulses that might give it new impetus?

Artists and critics Olia Lialina, James Bridle and other contributors join in the discussion. Lunch and refreshments will be provided and are included in the ticket price.

Jerwood/Film and Video Umbrella Awards
Tomorrow Never KnowsEd Atkins & Naheed Raza
Sat 8 June - Sat 20 July 2013 
A collaborative exhibition presented by Jerwood Visual Arts and Film and Video Umbrella, London, in association with CCA.