Reading Blog #2

I really enjoyed this article and how it parallels Duchamp's “Fountain” and the idea that anything can be art. In the article it says “4’33” is “an act of framing, of enclosing environmental and unintended sounds in a moment of attention in order to open the mind to the fact that all sounds are music” which is the same idea “Fountain” addresses. I also thought it was interesting that the author posed the question of if Cage even liked noise. He writes that Cage once asked John Lennon to stop using wall-mounted speakers because of his sensitivity to sound. Cage himself also said “there seemed to be no truth, no good, in anything big in society. But quiet sounds were like loneliness, or love, or friendship” which points to his appreciation for simplicity. It’s been said that beautiful things don’t ask for attention and I think this notion aligns with Cage’s beliefs of listening to the natural world and things that often go unnoticed. The idea that silence doesn’t exist is interesting because I think people often get caught up in the busyness of today’s society which therein creates a different perception of silence and causes people to lack acknowledgment for minuscule things such as sounds. I think the suggestion that anything can be art and all sounds are music comments on how subjective life is. One person’s beauty is another person’s hideous and both Duchamp and Cage challenge our personal prejudice and perspectives.