Materials from the New York Performance of John Cage's REUNION
A small archive of materials relating to John Cage's May 27, 1968 performance of his musical-chess work "REUNION" staged at New York's Electric Circus nightclub.
Near fine overall.
Price: $2,000.00
Materials from the New York Performance of John Cage's REUNION
"'Reunion' might be considered as the third part of '4'33''', just as '0'0''' was part two." — David Revill<br />
Originally performed with Marcel and Teeny Duchamp in Toronto a couple of months previous (March 5), this was the second of only three performances of the work which saw Cage play an opponent (his friend, writer and editor John Kobler) on a specially made electronic chess board with the result being an (according to the included, original event flyer): "[...] electronic sight-and-sound work whose form is determined by the moves of a chess game."
As Cage biographer point out, "Reunion" was a significant piece in Cage's oeuvre, in many ways the companion to his groundbreaking "4'33'": "Cage told Daniel Charles that his first silent work 'involved one or several musicians who made no sound. The second one... indicates that an obligation toward others must be fulfilled [...] The third one involves gathering together two or more people who are playing a game in an amplified context [...] another essentially silent - musical work.'"
Included here are 20 original photo contact sheets of more than 600 individual frames of the performance shot by photographer Alfred Statler (1916-1984), while on assignment for TIME magazine, as well as an original site program for the event (with a brilliant, day-glo ink printed cover of the famed Electric Circus logo designed by Tom Geismar and an essay by Eric Salzman titled "The Electric Ear"), an original broadside flyer for the event, and some miscellaneous paperwork from TIME's photographic lab. (Also additionally are a number of unrelated contact sheets of other contemporary NYC events, including images of a Beverly Sills performance).
A revealing and detailed document of an important Cage performance and composition.
Read more: David Revill, The Roaring Silence, John Cage: A Life, 223.
The Object
(New York): [Alfred Statler] and (Electric Circus), (1968). 20 black and white contact sheets, each approximately 11" x 8 1/2" on single weight "A KODAK" paper. [WITH] Event program measuring approximately 11" x 8 1/2" ; [i-iv], [1], 2-6pp. Top thin card wrapper with silk screen title design in green day-glo ink followed by a single blank endpage, 3 printed leaves on decorated "Electric Circus" letterhead, then seven leaves of text (no lower wrapper), all stapled three times at left margin. [WITH] A single 9 1/4" x 5 1/2" event broadside flyer. [WITH] A small assortment of photographer's notes and paper work as well as miscellaneous additional photos filed together with these.
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