John Cage was an American artist who began his journey into silence with a piece called “Four minutes, thirty three seconds”. As an artist who wor

Cage wanted to work with the sounds that were already in existence, and not shut them out. He recognized the indifference that existed in the sounds of the environment, and saw within them the realization of his desire to create music with a quiet mind and divine influences. With his new approach to music in mind, Cage went on to visit Harvard University to try out an anechoic chamber in order to experience silence. Once inside, to his surprise, there was no silence. He heard two sounds, one low and one high. The high sound was his nervous system, and the low sound was his circulatory system. It was from this experience that Cage discounted the idea of silence as a total absence of sound, but rather he redefined silence as the absence of intended sounds, or the turning off of our awareness. Soon after his visit to Harvard, Cage wrote 4'33". It was first performed on August 29, 1952 in Woodstock, New York by pianist David Tudor. The piece, as stated in its title, is four minutes and thirty three seconds of “silence”. There are three different movements, which are indicated to the audience by the raising and lowering of the keyboard lid. The first movement flowed with the sound of the wind through the trees, the second was tapped with drops of rain upon the roof, and the final movement rolled with the agitated mutters and whispers of the audience. Although Cage’s conception of silence had transformed, the audience’s had not, and they thought that Cage had gone too far, not recognizing his ideas of awareness of sound. As Cage once stated, “Music is about changing the mind – not to understand, but to be aware.” He continued on with these concepts, and continually used them in his pieces. He has become one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, and is renowned for his revolutions in sound.

Beuys attempted to create an atmosphere for his viewer that would invite the intuitive, passionate soul and the intellectual mind, and thus prepare the individual for spiritual revolution.

In conclusion, Beuys and Cage both worked with aspects of sound, and in doing so changed and influenced its use in the future. Both artists worked from desires of equality and freedom in art, yet did so in very different ways. Cage attempted to create music free from prejudices; likes and dislikes, a collaboration of neutral sounds that had no other purpose except of that to be heard. His work was to avant-guard at the time, but is now respected and praised. His

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