Cornelius Cardew (1936-81) was an experimental British composer whose activities, particularly with the Scratch Orchestra (1969-74), both reflected and contributed to the breaking down of barriers between different disciplines that took place during the 1960s. 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.
