04/11/09 07:03 Pm

John Cage Revisited at Subtropics 19

Written by Abel S.

By Abel S.

The 19th Annual Subtropics Experimental Music and Sound Arts Festival has came back to Miami thanks to the interdisciplinary Sound Arts Workshop (iSAW) under the artistic direction of Gustavo Matamoros. This year, the festival will continue its tradition to present South Florida composers, musicians and sound artists in performance, mingled with guest artists from around the world. One more time, the ten day event comes loaded with interventions, performances, art installations and film screenings in a real marathon of music, sound explorations and art experimentation. In its 19th Anniversary, the festival pays homage to a giant of experimental music, John Cage. Many performances will be specially dedicated to the legacy of the artist, whose all-encompassing vision led to the seminal Fluxus movement that paved the way for conceptual art. Cage’s unorthodox methods of conceiving music composition placed him among the most innovative contemporary artists in music experimentation.

Composed Improvisation, (which premiered in its duet version during Subtropics 3 in 1991), was written by John Cage for bassist Robert Black and percussionist Jan Williams. The piece will be the main course of a special concert of Cage’s music bringing both musicians back together again 15 years after Cage’s death. Another contribution to the concert will be the performance of composer-vocalist Joan La Barbara, interpreting Cage’s vocal music with guest pianist Amy Williams, as recorded on her famous CD Singing Through Cage. Many other invited artists will sum up to the concert celebration like Takehisa Kosugi, Christian Wolff, John King and David Behrman. All presentations will be hosted by the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts’ Studio Theater.

On February 23rd, the exhibition Cage: Released in Miami will open at Deluxe Arts located at 2051 NW and 2nd Ave, featuring an installation produced by Gustavo Matamoros containing invaluable audio and visual material documenting Cage’s visits to Miami. Also as part of the exhibition, there will be the screening of Baschet: The Transfiguration of Daily Life, a 31 min film about the work of the Baschet Brothers, (a.k.a. les structures sonores). Originally from France, these artists are known worldwide for their unique sound installations and music instruments’ custom design, as well as for their exploration of art in a social realm. Directed by Eric Martin, the film shows the unique fusion of these artists’ socio-political ideas and their aesthetic convictions, that consequently lead them to pioneer the notion of contemporary art as a way of social change.

A complete day of the festival will be dedicated to the highly influential Fluxus movement. Originated at Cage’s Experimental Composition classes at the New School for Social Research in New York City, Fluxus soon consolidated as an international network of artists committed to disassociate art from its traditional structures - be those aesthetic or commercial - and proposed new public interventions and political actions instead. Among its early associates were Joseph Beuys, Dick Higgins, Michael Hesp, Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell and Yoko Ono who explored media ranging from performance art to poetry to experimental music to film. March 3rd will be Fluxus Day around Miami Beach with concerts and activities inspired by the works of Fluxus members. Fluxus on the Beach is an event dedicated to the memory of Nam Jun Paik, including performances by Larry Miller, Alison Knowles and Gustavo Matamoros. Other activities for this day include Flux Fair, a free community event inviting audiences to participate in a number of interactive arrangements of classical event scores, to be staged outdoors at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts’ Thompson Plaza. Thumbs up for Subtropics 19!

04/11/09 07:03 PM