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Re: [silence] Robert Wilson performs John Cage’s ‘Lecture on Nothing’


Chronological Thread 
  • From: Thomas Moore <>
  • To: Rod Stasick <>
  • Cc: silence <>
  • Subject: Re: [silence] Robert Wilson performs John Cage’s ‘Lecture on Nothing’
  • Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2020 23:17:26 -0400
  • Authentication-results: eifmailue2p1.az.virginia.edu; spf=pass (virginia.edu: domain of designates 209.85.222.172 as permitted sender)

Embarrassingly awful is a good description. To take a work like Lecture on Nothing, a floating Zen-timeless-egoless construction (which, despite my saying timeless, is all about time), and to imbue it with ego (Wilson even chuckled at one point), was revolting. It was all about Robert Wilson, not at all about John Cage or Lecture on Nothing ... and the point of the artwork, and its relevant experience, would have been completely lost on anyone with whom it was unfamiliar (or, indeed, anyone with whom it was familiar). To put it bluntly, Wilson destroyed John’s work.

Onward.

Be well.

Best,
Tom

——

Thomas Moore
Director, Arts and Culture
Institutional Advancement
UMBC

Office: 410-455-3370 - Cell: 301-807-1369
http://thomasmoore.info



 



On Aug 12, 2020, at 10:09 PM, Rod Stasick <> wrote:

Well, that was embarrassingly awful.
Personally, I kind of wondered how
this would go, but I didn’t want to
imprint my personal feelings onto the 
announcement of the “performance.”

The moment I did like was about 45 minutes in
when the camera was trained on the backyard
and you could hear John speaking, but that was all.

Rod



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