John Cage and the Question of Genre

Form dances with function in this "seriously uncompromising"* and seriously compelling piece not so much about John Cage, as of the composer, music theorist, mycologist and artist, John Cage.

2013 / Chris Abrahams / Rick Moody / Sherre DeLys / TCF, USA/AUS

Form dances with function in this "seriously uncompromising"* and seriously compelling piece not so much about John Cage, as of the composer, music theorist, mycologist and artist, John Cage.

Presenting... "an audio essay and musical composition using thoughts about John Cage, and his masterwork, 4'33", to probe into questions of artistic genre, especially sound art and music, making use, along the way of chance operations, indeterminacy, sound collage, and, of course, exactly four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence." - Rick Moody

Text written (and read) by Rick Moody, with music, sound design, engineering and production by Chris Abrahams and Sherre DeLys. The text was originally commissioned by The Phillips Collection.

*This is how John Cage and the Question of Genre was first described to us. We recommend you head Behind the Scenes ASAP to read a seriously revealing interview with Moody, Abrahams and DeLys about the many brilliant decisions made and experiments executed in the making of this one-of-a-kind audio work.

produced by

Chris Abrahams is an Australian musician best known as the pianist with the instrumental trio The Necks.

Rick Moody is the author of five novels, three collections of stories, a memoir, and, most recently, a volume of essays On Celestial Music and Other Adventures in Listening.

Sherre DeLys' work has included sound sculpture and installation, improvised vocal music, sound designs for theater and film, radio art and documentaries.