Sounds Like Silence: John Cage – 4'33" – Silence Today

The book of Sounds Like Silence, the 2012 exhibition in Dortmund that marked a hundred years since John Cage's birth and sixty since the first performance of 4'33" on 29 August 1952.

Inke Arns and Dieter Daniels curated the show, an exhibition of Hartware MedienKunstVerein held in the Dortmunder U from August 2012 to January 2013. Among the artists represented are Robert Rauschenberg, Nam June Paik, Bruce Nauman and Christian Marclay. The title cuts both ways: silence has a sound of its own, and any sound needs silence around it to be heard.

The book is arranged in four parts. Essays by the two editors, Brandon LaBelle, David Toop, Julia H. Schröder, Dörte Schmidt and Jan Thoben come first; Schröder writes on Cage's work with Merce Cunningham, Schmidt on how the notation of the piece changed over time, Thoben on Cage's silent scores. A section of scores and documents gathers versions of the piece along with its derivatives, sequels and reconstructions, related material and a discography. An anthology, Silence: A Reader, sets texts by Cage beside others by Douglas Kahn, Liz Kotz, Kyle Gann, James Pritchett and more, and a last section documents the exhibition. Designed by Jakob Kirch and Pascal Storz.

Spector Books, 2012. 288 pages, 229 black-and-white illustrations, thread-sewn softcover, 24.1 x 33.5 cm. In English.