version for 3 performers: 3 MIDI-Controllers, audio-playback and video (2020)

music, text and video by Monika Dalach Sayers

commissioned by Sacrum Profanum Festival and Ensemble Kompopolex

premiered by Ensemble Kompopolex

​

version for solo performer: 1 MIDI-Controller, audio-playback, and video (2025)

music, text and video by Monika Dalach Sayers

commissioned by Małgorzata Walentynowicz

premiered by Małgorzata Walentynowicz​

​​

'CARBON IS THE NEW BLACK' is a multi-layered composition that combines music, text, performative actions, and video to address the problem of textile waste and the poor working conditions in the textile industry. 

​

"Will you wear me today? Maybe tomorrow?" The titular quote, from Monika Dalach Sayers’ 'CARBON IS THE NEW BLACK', highlights the fleeting nature of modern products. It is widely believed that the fashion industry is the second largest source of pollution in the world after the oil industry. We increasingly buy more clothes and throw away more of them. The “take-use-bin” model leads to huge amounts of waste, and the rapid mass production of clothes stimulates the culture of using and throwing away. Clothing is increasingly becoming disposable – we buy more often, and what we buy, we wear once. Instead of repairing, we throw away and buy new garments. We have forgotten how to take care of our belongings. As many as 85% of all textiles end up in landfills or are burned every year, and only 15% are recycled or go into second circulation. What price will we have to pay for impulsively satisfying the need to possess?

​