69th International Festival of Contemporary Music "Warsaw Autumn" - NOSPR

SIGNS

With ‘Signs’ as the theme of this Warsaw Autumn edition, we propose a collective shift of attention: away from the audible and visible surface of its events, and towards their meaning and deep structure.

The aim is to jolt us out of habitual ways of seeing and hearing, and to remind us that, as audiences for art, we are immersed in a sea of signs. Some serve as cultural anchors, having taken shape in the deep strata of cultural history; others we create today. There is nothing for it but to try to recognise and read them—to renew their meaning and gauge their relevance, all the more so at a time when we are assailed by information overload and noise. We are bombarded with fake news and caught up in wars waged through traditional and online media alike.

Alongside works that respond directly to reality, the Festival offers many artistic statements that deliberately stand back from current-affairs commentary—including works marked by humour and a gleeful sending-up of stereotypes. Warsaw Autumn also has room for a music of structures: absolute and abstract; a music that cleanses us of the incessant new doses of information pressing in from every side, and stands as a sign of autonomy and concentrated attention to art’s own material.

Jerzy Kornowicz
Festival Director