mickmercury:

teal-deer:

turhansbeycompany:

jimtheviking:

hardmiracle:

john cage’s 4’33” is fucking silence

someone put a copyright on the absence of sound

and then disabled the audio of a video

of the absence of sound

what a time to be alive

#john cage would have been so happy #it’s so meta #he would have pissed his pants

I think this is where I bring up the death metal cover of 4’ 33” someone did.

That death metal cover is fucking perfect

Here’s my favorite thing about this video – according to Cage, 4’33" consists not of silence, but of the ambient sounds of the environment that the audience hears. It’s meant to call your attention to the lack of silence in any given space, to the noises around you (inspired by Cage’s attempt to use a totally silent, soundproof room, only to discover that in such rooms you can hear your own circulation). In his words, “There’s no such thing as silence.” Sound is everywhere! And the consequently amazing thing is, when you silence a recording of 4’33" and listen to it, it becomes a real performance of 4’33", because you’re listening to the ambient sounds of your own space.