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MMoCA Cinema | Stand By for Failure: A Negativland Documentary

February 23, 2023

7:00 pm – 8:40 pm

227 State Street
Madison, WI, 53703

Stand By for Failure: A Negativland Documentary | Ryan Worsley | USA | 2022 | 99 minutes

Negativland, a culture jamming collective from California’s Bay area, has been creating recordings and live performances using appropriated sounds, images, objects, and text since 1980. Their complex chaos of plunderphonics poses both serious and silly questions about the nature of sound, media, technology, control, propaganda, power and perception in America. Filmmaker Ryan Worsley surveys Negativland’s history including their “Over the Edge” KPFA-FM broadcasts in the 1980s, their fair use copyright battles with U2 and Island Records in the 1990s, and their multi-location live-streamed performances during the recent pandemic.

MMoCA Cinema features premieres of critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary and feature films. MMoCA Cinema is $7 per screening, or free for MMoCA members and anyone age 18 and younger. Ticket sales begin at 6:30 PM in the Museum lobby. Film begins at 7:00 PM.

View the entire Winter 2023 lineup on the main MMoCA Cinema page.


Ticket Information

  • MMoCA Cinema is $7 per screening, or free for MMoCA members and anyone age 18 and younger.
  • Ticket sales begin at 6:30 PM in the Museum lobby.

Covid Policy for Attendees

  • Masks are highly encouraged indoors, outdoors, and when interacting with Museum staff.
  • Masks are encouraged outdoors when social distancing cannot be easily maintained.
  • Event capacities at MMoCA have been limited to allow ample room for social distancing between guests.