artist
John Cage
birth
Los Angeles, United States, 1912
death
New York, United States, 1992
last update
23-04-2025
The American composer John Cage (1912–1992) defined a radical practice of “experimental” musical composition that not only changed the course of modern music and dance, but generated a new horizon for the art of the late-twentieth century. Born in Los Angeles, Cage moved to New York in the early 1940s, performed extensively in Europe throughout the 1950s, and made an international name for himself by continually questioning the conventions of music. Cage’s more than fifty-year career ushered in numerous formal, structural, temporal, and media innovations that remain cornerstones of contemporary consciousness.

The Cage's career unfolds decade by decade: from percussion music (1930s), to “prepared piano” compositions (1940s), to chance and indeterminacy (1950s), to new media (1960s onward), through to the political focus that ever more explicitly informed the works of the last decades of his life.
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The texts of the MACBA web draw on previous documentation. Please let us know if you find any errors.

works

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[1727_001_hist / Imatge] 1727_001_hist.tif
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[3379_001_hist / Imatge] Cadaqués 2
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[3378_001_rgb / Imatge] Cadaqués 1
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[Telegrama a Lanfranco Bombelli]
10-9-1981
John Cage
see detail
Études Australes (complete)
1974
John Cage
see detail
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ARTIST NAME
[1727_001_hist / Imatge] 1727_001_hist.tif
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[3379_001_hist / Imatge] Cadaqués 2
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[3378_001_rgb / Imatge] Cadaqués 1
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[Telegrama a Lanfranco Bombelli]
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Études Australes (complete)
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documents

15 results
Diary: How to improve the world (you will only make matters worse) / John Cage, edited by Joe Biel and Richard Kraft with an afterword by David W. Rose
document
2019
Del lunes en un año / John Cage
document
2018
El libro de barro : cómo hacer pasteles / John Cage ; ilustrado por Lois Long
document
2018
Diary : how to improve the world (you will only make matters worse) / John Cage [edited by Joe Biel and Richard Kraft]
document
2015
Para los pájaros : conversaciones con Daniel Charles / John Cage
document
2013
Sounds like silence : John Cage, 4'33", Silence today : 1912, 1952, 2012 / Dieter Daniels ; Inke Arns
document
2011
Highfidelity : Künstlerschallplatten in der Sammlung Marzona = Artists’ records in the Marzona collection / [Michael Lailach ; Digitalisierung der Schallplatten, Malte Hubrig]
document
2008
Fontana mix-feed / Max Neuhaus, John Cage
document
2002
Enseigner et apprendre, arts vivants / par Robert Filliou et le lecteur, s'il le désire ; avec la participation de John Cage ... [et al.] ; et une post-face de Anne Moeglin-Delcroix ; traduction Juliane Régler, Christine Fondecave
document
1998
Rolywholyover : a circus / John Cage
document
1993
Rolywholyover : a circus / John Cage
document
1993
Lehren und Lernen als Auffuehrungskuenste / von Robert Filliou und dem Leser, wenn er will ; unter Mitwerkung von John Cage ... [et al.] = Teaching and learning as performing arts / by Robert Filliou and the reader, if he wishes ; with the participation of John Cage ... [et al.]
document
1970
Lehren und Lernen als Auffuehrungskuenste / von Robert Filliou und dem Leser, wenn er will ; unter Mitwerkung von John Cage ... [et al.] = Teaching and learning as performing arts / by Robert Filliou and the reader, if he wishes ; with the participation of John Cage ... [et al.]
document
1970
An Anthology of chance operations ... / by George Brecht ... [et al.] ; La Monte Young, editor ; George Maciunas, designer
document
1970
Notations / by John Cage
document
1969