Subtractive Strategies: March 2011

John Cage

"The material of music is sound and silence. Integrating these, is composing"...

-John Cage

John Cage was a sound and musical artist predominantly active from the 1950s until 1992 when he died. He was one of the first to popularize the use of objects that were not before thought of as musical instruments, in order to make sound compositions.

Cage also worked with the concepts of silence and performance in relation to sound.

His piece 4'33" is a four minute, thirty-three second long composition of silence that he wrote in order to draw attention to all the ambient noise present in the atmosphere of the performance/recording. Here is one example of his idea:

4'33'' (CATM version) (Simbenic Translation Interpretation) by crises

"Our intention is to affirm this life, not to bring order out of chaos, nor to suggest improvements in creation but simply to wake up to the very life we're living which is so excellent once one gets one's mind and one's desires out of its way and lets it act of its own accord"

-John Cage

Christina Kubisch

Christina Kubisch is a sound artist who focuses much of her work on electromagnetic radiation picked up by special headphones while in an urban setting. She has brought her headphones to many cities around the world to lead these walks. They are a very unique experience because all the sounds are live and can never be produced in the exact same way again. They are also highlighting an aspect of our world that is not noticed and heard on a daily basis.

To hear how these pieces can sound, you can visit this website, about her walk in Ruhr, Germany. Click the link beneath "PODCAST" and a recording will automatically play.