DJ Spooky and John Cage Readings - Kate

I found the DJ Spooky reading confusing, mostly because of where the text got cut off. He seemed to be making a point about how originality is no longer an issue of creating something completely new, but how you use what came before to create something interesting. What I found interesting about this was how he quoted Emerson saying something to this affect, when in the century after Emerson there would be such an incredible explosion of creation in art and technology. After he said that, essentially, there was nothing really new to be created, we went to space! Abstract expressionism happened! A vaccine for polio was developed! So, while I can totally agree that everything we make builds on the past, I think we can never really feel secure about saying "it's all been done". Of course we would naturally feel that way, because how can a human really wrap their head around the idea of new ideas to come? It's like trying to imagine a new color. Without an old experience to lean on, most of us can't do it.

The reading about John Cage was just as soothing as the man's artwork. Even though Cage produced work completely antithetical to mine, I adore it! I once wrote a paper on his film Mothlight, and I think he was a true creative genius. I don't always agree with his philosophy that "the purpose of art is to sober and quiet the mind", I prefer art that stimulates the senses and excites the imagination. I do love his comparison of workers (like the master printmakers he employed) to a composer's use of musicians to achieve his vision. I also love his idea that "art and life are close together". How could it be any other way? I also enjoyed the fact that Rauschenberg's white paintings inspired his ideas of silence.
I also liked the way his use of chance operations is described, the phrase "multiply the chance operations so he could fill up the page with activity" is so pleasing.