i love john cage. i derive a lot of my practice from what he speaks of and this video just made me fall in love with him all over again. AND he’s a cute boy with a cat.
the listening to the city project that i did last year looked at a whole bunch of these ideas: the act of listening without judgement to the city, the actual sound of traffic (although i think cage’s experience of traffic as silence is from behind the filter of 6 floors up and behind glass), and an engagement with the desire of silence and the means to obtain it.
his definition of sound acting is exactly what propels me to respond to sound through performance, action, occupation and installation-based works. my relationship with sound is a verb, not a noun.
just as a heads up, i’m giving a lecture on sound, listening and silence in the built environment next month, so don’t be surprised if there’s a few cage quotes in there.
thanks to nella for this one.