Cage: More than Silence. When Silence Rises from Earth.
Ugandan Dub collective, produce a powerful reinterpretation of John Cage’s 4,33.
“Silence” is an interesting word. We know that John Cage isn’t talking about the non-existance of sound but the microcosms that go unnoticed as we all go about existing loudly. Silence in this case was considered a political act, harking back fondly to a pre-industrial era, perhaps in the same way people today might make art conscious of a time before smart phones. When we talk about the structures of society we live in, silence has a different meaning depending on your perspective minority and class. Silence can mean rejection, subjugation & consequently oppression. In order for Sound Art to progress in the west, should we not sit with this uncomfortable fact, the society that was shown 4,33 is a vastly less tolerant society than today – in which these racist structures still permeate.
What kind of audience were shown 4,33? What does it mean when 4,33 is played in a large concert hall compared to an automous dub collective in Uganda with no ties to institution led culture or academia? How did colonialism and the history of oppression from the west effect that soundscape? The power of 4,33 being played in this landscape, as opposed to a concert hall representing the skin on the top of the soup… Now Silence is a word heavily tied into the status quo of structural racism and oppression, how does that reflect in the western philosophies of Sound Art? If Silence(deep listening) is informed by Silence(lack of activism) how do we now move forward acknowledging faults and correcting our highly esteemed conceptors of theory? Does this not make the oppressed the true owners of silence?