Pousseur’s Scambi (1957), and the new problematics of the open work

I begin with an irony. Pousseur’s Scambi (1957), cited as an exemplum in Umberto Eco’s famous essay on the ‘open’ work (Eco 1989) has, as a result, been reified as a historical mo(nu)ment. Yet the open work will always be a challenge to any history, since its intention is to live beyond any citation. No matter how many Ecos the open work may sustain, Scambi and works like it will be sound-sources and compendia of possibilities, whether realised or not