4'33"

On the SFMOMA's "Open Space" blog, there is an interesting post about the daily performance of John Cage's 4'33".

There is a polarizing effect to the author's writing. He makes a distinction between the fans of the piece and those unaware of its performance. The story of Swedish music professor's absolute zero theory of Cage's piece is an interesting anecdote, but it falls short in analysis and thought. I have always seen 4'33" as being about the inherent chaos of our daily lives and less about the supposed silence of the piece. Absolute zero, -273 C, 0 Kelvin, is a state of stasis. Those 273 seconds of the piece have nothing to do with stasis though: they are as chaotic and visceral as Stravinsky's Dances of the Young Girls movement from The Rites of Spring. To devolve those moments of Cage's piece to absolute zero is to understand absolutely zero about the piece.

The other story of the museum patron tapping the performer on the shoulder to ask for directions and getting chastised by the audience is the most interesting part of the blog piece. For me, it shows how unaware the an art audience can be about the pieces they look at and claim to understand and appreciate. It would seem as though this guest tapping on the shoulder would be the crescendo to the piece that will never appear in the score. That moment is beautiful, and the shock of it was the rupture point for the audience that they could not accept. That unknowing guest has done more for 4'33" than everyone standing around in some sort of oddly reverent silence.