Having read about Cage but not having read his own material, I was pleasantly taken by certain works he put together and also by how the excerpt was formatted. Cage made several points about the process of music and how it translates visually on sheet music, on magnetic strips, and so forth. I found it interesting that there was a visual aspect added to the reading. In terms of the subject of silence, I myself have contemplated the impossibility of "hearing" silence. Because noise/sound is all-encompassing, because we can even feel it in space, it's true that silence will only be "attained" once one has passed. But even then, we lose sentience (as far as we know) and therefore, cannot process silence. This reading led me to remember an experience I had when visiting my father in the woods of N. Florida. We had walked deep into a wood where there were not yet homes built or any signs of human civilization besides the tape that marked the lots others had purchased. I remember standing there and my ears adjusting. I could hear beyond the sounds of the palms, to the light traffic on the state highway about a mile off, to my own breathing, and eventually my own heartbeat. In that situation, I told myself that I was in a situation as close to silence I could possibly be, and everything was still so loud.
Karl Marx "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts"
Honestly, Marx's writing style, though straightforward is rather redundant and eventually loses meaning to me. He made some points I couldn't agree with. Regarding the separation of a worker and his product, I could only see that if the product is based off someone else's formula. For instance, I sell video games and I am not part of that product, its creative process, or the physical piece I hand off. So Marx is correct in the most basic of approaches. Now for someone who sells crafts, an artisan or an artist, they are very much present in the product. I can't at all say I'm absent from any of my student work (which I would sell if I could manufacture my pieces). Because all of my work is autobiographical and I am literally presented in each of them be it in portrait form, a representative sculpture, or by adding my voice, It's impossible for me to be separate from my product. I feel like this is present in other artists' works like Michel Gondry's "The Science of Sleep," and Matthew Barney's "Cremaster Cycle."
Stan Brakhage's "Metaphors on Vision"
Brakhage's approach to vision was compelling to me. His explanation on how deeming concepts and objects corrupts our approach to seeing. We turn trees into an object rather than simply observing something before us. We see depth, mass, and space rather than just a mixture of colors (it feels wrong even calling them colors). We would have to distort our vision somehow, possibly by blurring, zooming, or even spinning to see the world as it is instead of how we labeled it.
Sean Martin's "Alechemy and Alchemists"
Martin's writing hit me closely, especially when he introduced Hermeticism in alchemy. Being a Virgo, ruled by the planet Mercury and having Hermes as my representative, I could really appreciate how alchemy was standardized and eventually broadened. I feel like art making is a very alchemical process, especially for myself. I personally do my very best to keep my product uninfluenced and made on my own terms/independently. I have a hard time with accepting my own pieces if they are derivative or made of found objects/footage. I can also appreciate the sections about Nigredo and Rubedo. I feel like when I'm starting any project, when I'm plotting, I'm in the Nigredo phase. This occurs not only in my art making, but also in my performance as an emotional human being. When I've finished a project (in any context), I feel the union of the apprehension of beginning and the relief of finishing being married into the Rubedo phase. This is also a Mutable symptom featured in four of the astrological signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) through which each encounters an inevitable internal conflict (Virgos mainly struggling with innocence and corruption).
Malcom LaGrice's "Digital Cinema and Experimental Film"
LaGrice's writings describing the ever-changing/expanding/advancing/evolving computer-based industries explain the reasons why I have ever had any conflicts with New Media. Because computers themselves are so fickle, because the ease of access to information (whether it be true, false, or modified), because technology is overdeveloped, audiences have developed a shorter attention span. So short, in fact, sites like Twitter have become hits (for one only has to read an excerpt of one's thought process in the length of 400 characters or less), vloggers have found success in promoting ideas (because viewers have become too lazy even to read essays or journal entries), and often (the appearance of, at least) little thought goes into one's product. This is a result of the postmodern idea, that because of technological expansion, is difficult to keep up with, and therefore, master. My favorite representation of this is postmodernism in high fashion. The Comme des Garçons fall collection shows how this is true (in an almost ironic way, seeing as how Zoolander the collection is) by how the pieces look randomized and not exactly put together, and even (dare I say) derelict. But even so, there can be such a process that goes into making one look as though he/she just threw something (my favorite part of postmodern fashion and a guilty pleasure of mine).
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