John Cage

Acting

John Cage

Born September 5, 1912 · Los Angeles, California, USA

Died August 12, 1992 · aged 79

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, artist, and philosopher. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde.

Known For

Inner ManInner Man · 1972
Inner Man
1972
Movie
This film shows the images of a dancing woman who is wearing Kimono overlapping another image which a naked man is dancing. This is one of the original psychological concepts of C.G. Jung. For women, Animus is an image of a man by projection of her mental energy.
The Power of SpeechThe Power of Speech · 1988
The Power of Speech
★ 6.01988
MovieDramaRomance
Godard blends elements of literature, cinema and other artistic medias from different historical periods in order to make a stance on how words can be subverted and manipulated to many different contexts, sometimes bearing a similar significance to the original material or even creating an alternate context.
At LandAt Land · 1944
At Land
★ 7.21944
MovieFantasy
A woman washes up on a beach and embarks on a surreal journey, encountering others and fragmented versions of herself in a quest for identity.
OceanOcean · 2010
Ocean
★ 5.52010
MovieMusic
John Cage’s original concept of Ocean, in 1991, was for a dance to be performed in a circular space, with the audience surrounding the dancers, and the musicians (112 of them) surrounding the audience. The last performance was in the Rainbow Quarry in Minnesota, September 2008, at which time the piece was filmed by Charles Atlas.
Take the Cage Train – Boletus EdulisTake the Cage Train – Boletus Edulis · 2023
Take the Cage Train – Boletus Edulis
2023
MovieDocumentary
Bo CageBo Cage · 2012
Bo Cage
2012
MovieAnimationMusic
Ouverture - Accademia Nazionale di Santa CeciliaOuverture - Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia · 2021
Ouverture - Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
2021
MovieMusic
In 2021, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia marked a new beginning following the closures caused by the health emergency, with a packed programme of concerts and events, often described as a moment of ‘opening’ and hope, and sometimes referred to as the ‘Overture’.
Dreams That Money Can BuyDreams That Money Can Buy · 1947
Dreams That Money Can Buy
★ 6.01947
MovieDramaFantasy
An attempt to bring the work of surrealist artists to a wider public. The plot is that of an average Joe who can conjure up dreams that will improve his customer's lives. This frame story serves as a link between several avant-garde sequences created by leading visual artists of their day, most of whom were emigres to the US during WWII.

Filmography

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A Tribute to John CageA Tribute to John Cage · 1976
A Tribute to John Cage
★ 6.01976
MovieTV MovieDocumentary
A Tribute to John Cage is Paik's homage to avant-garde composer John Cage. A major figure in contemporary art and music, Cage was one of the primary influences on Paik's work, as well as his friend and frequent collaborator. In this multifaceted portrait, Paik creates a pastiche of Cage's performances and anecdotes, interviews with friends and colleagues, and examples of Paik's participatory music and television works that parallel Cage's strategies and concerns. The methodology and philosophies that inform Cage's radical musical aesthetic — chance, randomness, the democratization of sounds — are evident as he performs such seminal pieces as 4'33" (of complete silence) in Harvard Square, or throws the I Ching to determine performance sites. Among the collage of elements included in this work are segments from Paik's Zen for TV; Paik and Charlotte Moorman in early performances, including the TV Bra; and anecdotes from composer Alvin Lucier.
Beach Birds for CameraBeach Birds for Camera · 1992
Beach Birds for Camera
★ 8.01992
MovieDocumentary
Cunningham said of his choreography for "Beach Birds", “It is all based on individual physical phrasing. The dancers don’t have to be exactly together. They can dance like a flock of birds, when they suddenly take off.” A work for eleven dancers, the rhythm for "Beach Birds" was much more fluid than other Cunningham dances, so that the sections could differ in length from performance to performance. John Cage composed the music, and painter Marsha Skinner provided the costumes and décor. The dancers were dressed identically in all white leotards and tights, with black gloves. Skinner’s backcloth was a white scrim on which the light varied in color and intensity, decided by a lighting plot that was devised using chance methods. While the timings did not relate to the dance structure, the gradual changes of light have been interpreted to imitate those that might occur from dawn to dusk on a beach.

Music

Video Wall Installation of John Cage’s 4’33″Video Wall Installation of John Cage’s 4’33″ · 2013
Video Wall Installation of John Cage’s 4’33″
2013
MovieDocumentaryMusic
In February 2013, the New World Symphony presented Making the Right Choices: A John Cage Centennial Celebration, a spectacular three-day festival dedicated to the music and ideas of John Cage. As part of the festival, NWS hosted a new video installation entitled NWS: 4’33″, created by New York-based composer, director, performer and recording artist Mikel Rouse; which consisted of video performances contributed by Cage fans via a special YouTube site set up by Rouse. The public was invited to record and submit their own video, and visit the installation during the festival to see their work in the SunTrust Pavilion at the New World Center. These videos will be included in an online Archive of the event, a lasting tribute to this defining and seminal artist.

Music

Works of CalderWorks of Calder · 1950
Works of Calder
★ 10.01950
MovieDocumentary
The film begins with a sun materializing out of the emptiness of space. In the first of three sequences we see various images from nature against music: the sky, trees, leaves, a bird, water, sand, a beach. A little boy wanders along the beach observing the natural world around him. He walks and presently comes to a house and peers inside. The second sequence has no music. The narrator speaks of sculptor Alexander Calder and his work, as we see Calder in his workshop, cutting and creating unusual shapes, and seeing the resultant artworks. The last sequence has music as we view images of Calder's work. However, now they are intercut with images from nature so that we understand that Calder's inspiration is the natural world around him. The film ends as it began, with an image of the sun, now fading into the sky.

Music