more on chance... John Cage and the likes

John Cage's 4'33 is really a piece to think about. It's funny because it's so awkward... but that's almost the point. It allows people to enjoy silence. It lets them relax for a bit and open their minds. It provides 4 minutes and 33 seconds of free time... and Cage left it to chance what the audience would do with that time. It is quite the spectacle.

4'33

I had never thought to use chance in art before reading about Cage and his ideas. I always think of art as something you have to put time into brainstorming, designing, and eventually executing. My goal is for my end result to be as close as possible to my original idea. But art isn't perfect. That's what is so beautiful about it. You can work with your "mistakes," you can absolutely digress from your original idea. Chance art is exactly that, but you're working with something you cannot control. So even the artist is surprised with the end result. Awesome.



other artists...

Dove Bradshaw:

R A D I O   R O C K S    1 9 9 8 - 2 0 0 8

A Limited Edition, 2008, Boxed Edition of 10; Self-published on the occasion of the Radio Rocks exhibition at Larry Becker Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA and Permanent Radio Rock Installation, Bolognano, Italy, beginning in 2006

30 pages, 7 x 5 inch archival inkjet prints of plans and installation shots accompanied with an artist's text and a CD of the portfolio; each page has sounds of radio emissions from Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Earth; housed in a 7 1/2 x 51/2 inch box, wrapped in an inner sleeve

reference

Salt, 1996-2006, self-published on-line, 2009

Print version: Edition of 10, see MULTIPLES

Negative Ions I and II, and Salt, Half Heard, in salt boulder and granular form subjected to a slow, steady drip of water, accompanied by a salt work titled, Six Continents, consisting of salt taken from each continent, are represented in a variety of installations, including one in a Rome where the dripping action took place through a square cut between two floors. The text is by the artist, accompanied by reviews and comments by John Cage, Thomas McEvilley, Peter Frank, and Christopher Knight.

reference

Alison Knowles:

In the process of papermaking particularly the shapes formed by the wet pulp as it is left to air dry are respected and become indigenous to the sculpture. In performances I am drawn to objects for their sound. My orchestra consists of beans, toys, papers, and words .... Each instrument comes out of silence, makes its performance, and returns to silence. --Alison Knowles, Statement.

reference