For the Birds

John Cage, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, would have turned 100 years old in 2012. Cage rattled the conventions of contemporary composition of his times with his experimental actions, the use of coincidence in music and the treatment of noise as a valid acoustic element. But how relevant are his radical artistic approaches when removed from their original context of the 1950s and 1960s? The festival “For the Birds – 64 hours of works by John Cage” by the Festspielhaus Hellerau didn’t intend to present a historically accurate reproduction of his works. Instead, over a period of 64 hours, it created a laboratory and performance venue at which audiences could experience first-hand the intellectual and artistic radicality of John Cage’s ideas in the here and now.
The visitors could walk from room to room and view staged performances featuring various chamber music ensembles continuously playing works by Cage during the festival. The composer, musician and writer Manos Tsangaris was responsible for staging the entire event. His piece “Cheap Variation for light sources, kinetic and performative processes“, which he has composed especially for the occasion, has also been performed at the festival. The event included three projects, in which pupils, assisted by professional artists, were able to experiment with the phenomena of silence and sound.

Entire concept: Manos Tsangaris (GR)
Participants: Dresdner Philharmonie, Ensemble Garage, Pi-hsien Chen (CN), Kat Válastur (GR), Jan Vogler, Markus Boysen, Ensemble Con Tempo Beijing (CN) and others

Festspielhaus Hellerau, Dresden: 5 – 7 Oct. 2012