Reading Blog #2

In this article discussing John Cages 4'33 they mention that even today critics don't like the piece and equate it to the story of the emperors new clothes. I found this comment stuck out to me because I feel the same about the piece. This was one of my favorite childhood stories, for those who don't know the story, it's about a seamstress who tricked the king by saying he made the finest clothes and whoever couldn't see them where stupid and incompetent. So the king praised him and paid him a fortune for the invisible clothes and walked outside in his underwear while everyone pretended they could see the clothes too. I feel like this is similar in that John Cage is the seamstress and whoever doesn't understand or hear his work is stupid. Although he doesn't say that his goal is to make people believe doing nothing is art. As much as I tried to understand his perspective, I just think that he can't take what already there and call it his own, never mind call it good art. I also believe that it feeds into the sort of gatekeeping that many rich people in the art industry have. There is a specific sector in the art world that is above the common person and that is my least favorite art.

To shift to another perspective I feel like 4'33 is just an experiment to make people more mindful like a meditation where the listeners focus on the noises around them they usually block out.