john cage

i am not sure how to conceive of sound as sculpture. well, now that i'm thinking about it, if sculpture is a reckoning of space, or a work that attempts to account for and comment on space, sound pieces that take into account the physical space in which the sound is heard, or sound pieces that take into account the phenomenological experience of sound (a phenomenological approach being one that examines the physiological reception of sound as well as the cultural and social landscape of the reception of sound)– such work can indeed be considered sculptural.

but we expect sculpture to have three-dimensional qualities. sound could be conceived of as three-dimensional, since it travels in 3D space, fills that 3D space. also, it might be argued that sound in a specific site can make the audience more aware of the site itself, so that the sound turns the site (the auditorium, the public space [the street], the private space [the bedroom or the car]) into a sculpture, and the audience is also part of the sculpture.

in this sense john cage's work opperates as sculpture. his work 4'33" draws the audience's attention not only to the ambient noises of the environment but also makes the audience consider the context of a performance and the attendent conventions of a performance. the sculpture is a room of people, gathered together, all their expectations, their reactions to the piece (bafflement, confusion, anger, ammusement), and finally the chance noises that occur to fill the space.