JOHN CAGE
MCA DNA
Museum of Contemporary Art MCA
220 East Chicago Avenue - Chicago
dal 1/9/2012 al 3/3/2013
This exhibition traces the fruitful and decades-long intersection of the celebrated avant-garde composer and artist John Cage (American, 1912–92) with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Cage’s involvement with MCA Chicago dates back to the museum’s inaugural exhibition opening, in October 1967, of Pictures to be Read/Poetry to be Seen, where he performed with fellow Fluxus collaborators Dick Higgins and Allison Knowles. Over the years he returned numerous times to Chicago, where he had lived in the early 1940s, often stopping at the MCA to execute various projects or see friends. Other artists frequently performed Cage’s works, notably pioneering video artist Nam June Paik and cellist Charlotte Moorman in a 1969 program titled Mixed Media that featured Variations III and 26’1.1499” for a String Player.
Perhaps his best-known project associated with MCA Chicago was part of the 1982 New Music America festival. For this pioneering music festival, organized by the MCA, Cage realized A Dip in the Lake: Ten Quicksteps, Sixty-two Waltzes, and Fifty-six Marches for Chicago and Vicinity (1978), a score created on a map of Chicago. Now in the MCA Collection, this important work is featured in the exhibition along with associated materials demonstrating how to interpret the score. Also on view are scores and books drawn from the over eighty items that represent Cage in the MCA Artists’ Books Collection, accompanied by ephemeral materials such as letters written to MCA staff and other historical documents that trace Cage’s legacy at the MCA. This exhibition is mounted in conjunction with John Cage’s centenary year.
MCA DNA: John Cage is part of an ongoing exhibition series featuring works that constitute the building blocks of the MCA Collection. This exhibition is curated by MCA Curator Lynne Warren.
MCA DNA
Museum of Contemporary Art MCA
220 East Chicago Avenue - Chicago
dal 1/9/2012 al 3/3/2013
This exhibition traces the fruitful and decades-long intersection of the celebrated avant-garde composer and artist John Cage (American, 1912–92) with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Cage’s involvement with MCA Chicago dates back to the museum’s inaugural exhibition opening, in October 1967, of Pictures to be Read/Poetry to be Seen, where he performed with fellow Fluxus collaborators Dick Higgins and Allison Knowles. Over the years he returned numerous times to Chicago, where he had lived in the early 1940s, often stopping at the MCA to execute various projects or see friends. Other artists frequently performed Cage’s works, notably pioneering video artist Nam June Paik and cellist Charlotte Moorman in a 1969 program titled Mixed Media that featured Variations III and 26’1.1499” for a String Player.
Perhaps his best-known project associated with MCA Chicago was part of the 1982 New Music America festival. For this pioneering music festival, organized by the MCA, Cage realized A Dip in the Lake: Ten Quicksteps, Sixty-two Waltzes, and Fifty-six Marches for Chicago and Vicinity (1978), a score created on a map of Chicago. Now in the MCA Collection, this important work is featured in the exhibition along with associated materials demonstrating how to interpret the score. Also on view are scores and books drawn from the over eighty items that represent Cage in the MCA Artists’ Books Collection, accompanied by ephemeral materials such as letters written to MCA staff and other historical documents that trace Cage’s legacy at the MCA. This exhibition is mounted in conjunction with John Cage’s centenary year.
MCA DNA: John Cage is part of an ongoing exhibition series featuring works that constitute the building blocks of the MCA Collection. This exhibition is curated by MCA Curator Lynne Warren.
