The Anarchy of Silence

The Anarchy of Silence John Cage and Experimental Art

Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona

If a piano is in front of a room full of people, but no one hits a key, does it make a sound?  John Cage’s arguably best-known work, 4’33” (1952), answered this question very simply: yes, if only because true silence is never possible.  Cage’s 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence in 3 movements have certainly seen more than their duration of critical and satirical fame.  Less often are they placed in their context.  The Anarchy of Silence, however, offers exactly that rare opportunity to see Cage’s work exhibited in direct relation to key works of contemporaries (from Rauschenberg’s White Paintings (1951) and Robert Morris’s Box with the Sound of its Own Making, (1961), to the new mediascape of Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable, and beyond).

This first historicization of Cage’s work moves decade by decade through the artists’ work, from the 1930s through to the final decades of his life.  While the focus remains on Cage, of particular interest are the links framed by dialogues with other artists (Marcel Duchamp and Robert Rauschenberg, among many others) that position Cage’s work in the “post-Pollock” generation that sought a cultural tabula rasa, and follow its influence into the 60s avant-garde, Fluxus, and conceptual art.

Until 10.01.10 at Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), 1 Plaça dels Àngels 08001, Barcelona.

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