Artist in residence Budhaditya Chattopadhyay was recently interviewed by Nathalie van der Lely on Jegens & Tevens about his residency, colonized sound, cultural intersections vs appropriation, compassionate listening, his nomadic influence and more.

“Do you see sound and media as a cultural battleground?

I would say interaction, and with any kind of interaction there is a tension. And tension gets intensified when there’re cultures involved. I as an Indian young man came to Europe and got a cultural shock due to the silence that people embrace in Europe. People don’t like to shout, you rarely hear a scream. Self-silencing is something I find very interesting.

But this is a post-globalization moment, with cultures intersecting is far more important than the cultural differences. For that matter I wouldn’t call it a battleground, but an encounter. To give a few examples: The encounter of Claude Debussy with Javanese music. Of American Minimalist School composers like La Monte Young and Indian musicians like Pandit Pran Nath, his teacher for 30 years. Also Beatles and Ravi Shanker. There’re many encounters like this taking place.”

Budhaditya performed his work at No Patent Pending #38 on October 12, 2019.

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