ABSTRACT
Luigi Nono’s difficult relationship with institutions is unsurprising – since his early contact with the CIA-sponsored Congress for Cultural Freedom he was wary of the use of artists as propaganda tools, as instruments of political validation — but it makes his long-term adherence to the PCI still more significant. In February 1968 Nono was in West Berlin to take part in the anti-war demonstration organised by the Sozialistische Deutsche Studentenbund (SDS) — one of the largest such demonstrations in Europe, coming just two weeks after the Tet offensive punctured any sense of American invincibility in Vietnam. The anti-racist, anti-war texts not only situate the work in Nono’s own time, they situate it in St Mark’s square, with the protests of Nono and his comrades. Through the late 1960s Nono repeatedly makes reference to his desire for provocation and intervention, for discussion with all areas of society.
