Zugl.: Jena, Univ., Diss.

Light, Space, Color, and texture are elements often used in the construction of Architectural composition. This thesis is about adding sound (noise) to that palette. / Master of Architecture

Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Technische Universität Berlin, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 194-196) and index.

This thesis approaches the work of American avant-garde composer John Cage from an unconventional perspective by utilizing rhetorical theory to examine the intellectual history informing his collected writings in the text Silence (1961). That historical period encompasses the whole of the commonplace art movement, which sought to have everyday items and experiences supplant art objects. In applying Lloyd F. Bitzer’s theory of the rhetorical situation to the history of the art of the commonplace, a new concept of influence between artists emerges, one where exigences and situations shape popular notions of art. Briefly stated, a recurring exigence appeared throughout this period, bringing with it the necessary parameters for the inclusion of the commonplace within the realm of the art. From William Wordsworth, Walt Whitman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson through to Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, this exigence can be seen constraining the actions of artists towards a fitting, persuasive method. It is in John Cage that one finds this new method. Demonstrated through numerous examples of Cage’s work, this methodology skews the traditional perception of the artist, forgoing the ego, invoking indeterminacy and using structure to emphasize the process of composition itself. This enabled pieces of music and writing that lacked any discernable intention and therefore invited readers to engage the material therein for what it was originally: sounds and words. The result is, at long last, a persuasive and compelling reason to accept commonplace experiences alongside art works and it is evidenced by the Pop movement that would follow shortly thereafter.

This thesis approaches the work of American avant-garde composer John Cage from an unconventional perspective by utilizing rhetorical theory to examine the intellectual history informing his collected writings in the text Silence (1961). That historical period encompasses the whole of the commonplace art movement, which sought to have everyday items and experiences supplant art objects. In applying Lloyd F. Bitzer’s theory of the rhetorical situation to the history of the art of the commonplace, a new concept of influence between artists emerges, one where exigences and situations shape popular notions of art. Briefly stated, a recurring exigence appeared throughout this period, bringing with it the necessary parameters for the inclusion of the commonplace within the realm of the art. From William Wordsworth, Walt Whitman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson through to Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, this exigence can be seen constraining the actions of artists towards a fitting, persuasive method. It is in John Cage that one finds this new method. Demonstrated through numerous examples of Cage’s work, this methodology skews the traditional perception of the artist, forgoing the ego, invoking indeterminacy and using structure to emphasize the process of composition itself. This enabled pieces of music and writing that lacked any discernable intention and therefore invited readers to engage the material therein for what it was originally: sounds and words. The result is, at long last, a persuasive and compelling reason to accept commonplace experiences alongside art works and it is evidenced by the Pop movement that would follow shortly thereafter.

Many scholars exclude New York painter Philip Guston (1913-80) from the artistic tradition of Abstract Expressionism due to his absence from New York City during the group's early formative years. This thesis asserts, however, that Guston's role in Abstract Expressionism can be firmly established through his unique interpretation of the formative influence of surrealist automatism. Though never engaging with the surrealists directly, Guston explored automatist ideas upon meeting New York School experimental music composers John Cage and Morton Feldman. This trio's engagement with the Zen Buddhist concepts of unimpededness and interpenetration influenced Guston to create compositions through chance operations, a process Cage would call "indeterminacy." My aim is to enrich an understanding of Guston's idiosyncratic relationship to Abstract Expressionism and, ultimately, to offer a more expansive definition of Abstract Expressionism in general, allowing for a broader understanding of the formation of American modernism.

This thesis explores the possibilities of communication in the context of a sound composition. In RevealingReveilingReveling, a series of questions concerning communication posed by John Cage, coupled with an extension of those questions posed by myself, are set to recorded sounds-in-the-world. The intention is to create a greater awareness of that which there is to listen in our world. The first part of this essay discusses influences of philosophical thought during the process of composing RevealingReveilingReveling. Two distinct twentieth-century thinkers that have impacted the creation of this piece and their areas of thought are Martin Heidegger: language and Being; and John Cage: sound, silence, and awareness. The second part of the essay is a structural analysis of the piece, discussing the recording of Cage's questions, sounds-in-the-world, sound-manipulation techniques and thought-processes, as well as periodic mention the aesthetic decisions made.

No description available.

No description available.

Dès 1951, le compositeur américain John Cage (1912-1992) s’engage dans la recherche de stratégies nouvelles de création. Son objectif principal consiste à éviter de laisser la subjectivité gouverner son univers artistique. L’œuvre doit être exempte de tout geste expressif, ainsi que d’éléments issus de la mémoire. Commence alors l’invention de multiples procédés impersonnels de composition permettant au hasard d’être à l’origine de la conception de l’œuvre et de jouer un rôle à différents stades de l’élaboration. Il s’ensuit une exploration artistique où le créateur se trouve confronté à l’imprévisible. À partir de 1969, la recherche de moyens non-intentionnels de création s’élargit du domaine musical au domaine plastique. Les trois parties de notre thèse portent sur le processus d’élaboration, la performance et l’exposition. Pour une part importante de la production musicale et visuelle de Cage, si le hasard intervient dans la phase d’élaboration, les œuvres engendrées restent néanmoins fixes dans leur état final. Cependant, notamment dans les années soixante, la plupart des œuvres musicales prennent une forme indéterminée, le hasard intervenant également au moment de la performance, d’où l’imprévisibilité du résultat. Enfin, cette dialectique entre un hasard fixe et une indétermination mobile est mise en œuvre à la fin de sa vie dans la conception d’installations et d’expositions. D’un point de vue théorique, il est important de comprendre si la position de Cage est alors celle d’un simple transcripteur des résultats fournis par le hasard ou si des choix tiennent néanmoins une place dans sa création. Notre recherche montre que la position de l’artiste est double. Si Cage est à l’écoute du hasard, ses préoccupations thématiques dans les domaines musical, plastique et muséologique n’en ont pas moins laissé une forte empreinte sur sa production sous forme de différents invariants. / Starting in 1951 the American composer John Cage (1912-1992) relentlessly searched for new creative strategies. His main goal was to ensure that no form of subjectivity ruled his artistic universe. A work had to be free of any and all expressive gestures, as well as traces of memory. This stipulation led to his inventing multiple impersonal procedures of composition in that chance operations both initiated the conception of a work and played a role at different stages of its elaboration. The outcome of this artistic exploration meant that the creator had to come to terms with the unpredictable. From 1969 on, Cage carried over non-intentional modes of creation from his musical production to his visual works. The three main sections of our thesis focus on their process of elaboration, musical performance, and exhibitions. If chance operations came into play in the elaborative stage of a large number of these works, the latter nonetheless remained fixed in their final state. Yet, particularly in the 1960’s, most of the composer’s musical works had an indeterminate form, given that chance intervened during the performance, leading to unforeseen results. Finally, at the end of his life Cage put into play this dialectic relationship between fixed chance and mobile indetermination in his conception of installations and exhibitions. From a theoretical point of view, it is important to understand if his role is that of a simple transcriber of chance operation results or if choice still remains operative in his production. Our research shows that the position of the artist is dual: if Cage remains open to chance, his thematic interests in the fields of music, visual arts, and museology have just as strongly left their mark on his production in the form of different invariants.