After reading about John Cage and learning about him during class, I have developed a strong feeling of respect for him. He did what many are too afraid to do and pushed his work outside the norm, regardless of who was going to critique or make fun of him. John Cage paved the way for today’s music, as well as how we define music in terms of art. One thing that stood out to me from the article as well as the lecture is that DJs and electronic music would not exist without the change that Cage made on the music industry. This is especially true in today’s world with DJs and similar music being so popular. Unlike most, Cage believed that anything can be music; and if music is art then anything can be art. This aligned with Marcel Duchamp’s beliefs on art as well. He labeled a urinal and submitted it to a museum. After much debate and backlash, the piece is one of the most important and influential pieces of art. In a quote from Cage he states, “Art is a sort of experimental station in which one tries out living.” This shows to be true in Cages case as well as Duchamp’s. What would have formerly been everyday objects or random sounds happening around you, can now be transformed into a work of art. What both of these artists did has changed the art world forever and we are indebted to the risks that they took to show their beliefs.
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