Musicircus

I attended the Musicircus even this past Saturday, an exhibition of whimsical student work, the highlight of which was the experimental musicians playing in the back room. I am a big fan of John Cage, Fluxus, and have a growing interest in New and Experimental Music although it's not entirely within my field of study. I enjoyed the show, although the pieces weren't particularly curated around a theme most of them did capture a sense of whimsy, temporality or silliness which matches Cage's style of indeterminacy and chance, often emphasized by the addition of an element such as time.

The music was interesting to hear, but I thought the presentation of the musicians and their playing could have been better. The room with the musicians featured a random visualization, which was interesting to watch, but I felt detracted from the musical performance. If the visualization had been somehow generated based off the music as it was played, I would feel slightly differently. Regardless of the visualization, which on its own would not have bothered me, the musicians sat facing the screen and not the audience. I could not see their instruments well, or what they were doing to produce the sounds they were making. I would have liked to see them facing each in a circle, or facing the audience. Small critiques for an otherwise great show, glad to see Cage's work getting more attention from visual artists.