Running Head: MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 1

Marcel Duchamp and John Cage:

Challenging Artistic Notions through Humor, Indeterminacy, and Masculinity
Broderick J. Lemke
Saint Norbert College

Abstract
This paper explores the lives, collaboration and impact of Marcel Duchamp and John Cage in
both visual and musical arts. This essay begins with a biography of each artist and musings on
their most famous works as well as works that demonstrate techniques present throughout their
oeuvre. Next, it explores the experiments of each artist in the others medium, and notes
collaboration and inspiration between the two artists. A conclusion on the lives of the artists is
brought about by looking at the impact that they had on art and music. Finally, this paper
includes several works of art by the author that exemplify characteristics of both artists with
short artist statements accompanying them.
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 2

Marcel Duchamp and John Cage

Challenging Artistic Notions through Humor, Indeterminacy, and Masculinity
Marcel Duchamp and John Cage were two of the most important artists of the twentieth

century. The artwork that Duchamp produced as part of the Dada movement in the first half of

the twentieth century created a basis upon which the art of the second half was built. John Cage

serves as a sort of stepping stone between not only Duchamps work and contemporary art, but

also as a bridge between the visual and music arts. Cage enjoyed and worked in both mediums,

creating a large body of work that explored and expanded upon ideas of his own in addition to

those inspired by Duchamp. These two artists changed the contemporary understanding of the

avant-garde and challenged the idea of a simple definition of art or music, opening both fields to

exploration and creativity in ways that would not have been otherwise possible.

Marcel Duchamp, was born into an artistic family in France in 1887, with four of his six

siblings being artists (Level, 2016). He moved to Paris and with the help of his two eldest

brothers began studying various artistic styles at a rapid rate. His stylistic explorations included

forays into the Post-Impressionist style (influenced by Paul Czzane), Fauvism, and Cubism.

However, none of the styles seemed to stick with him (Level, 2016). His first breakout work of

art, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2. (1912), sparked controversy and was rejected from the

28th Salon de Indpendants by his own brothers that had been helping him (Level, 2016).

The work caused such controversy because of the manner in which Duchamp presented

the nude figure. One may initially assume the absurdity of a nude figure being featured in the

cubist style to be the spark of controversy, but it was in fact the physical nature of the subject. Up

until this point, even in the modern aesthetic, nudes were often shown reclining or posing in

some form. This can be seen in works such as Edouard Manets Olympia (1863), Pierre-August
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 3

Renoirs Nude in the Sunlight (1875), and Pierre Bonnards Nude against the Light (1908). These

works present a passivity of the nude, as a still-life object to be admired, while Duchamps nude

creates a sense of movement. The cubist painters who denied access of the piece into the salon

are quoted as having said A nude never descends the stairsa nude reclines (Philadelphia,

n.d.c). Perhaps if Duchamp had chosen another title for this piece it would have been accepted

into the show, but thankfully for his career he did not. Instead, the piece traveled to New York in

February of 1913 and became a sensation (Philadelphia, n.d.c). The work resonated with

Americans who were perhaps struggling with European modern art, allowing them the narrative

of a satire. This painting took a beautiful object, the human form, and displayed it in a technical

fashion, the straight lines prohibiting the natural curves of the nude, disrupting it and perhaps

poking fun at both the concept of the artful nude and cubism at the same time.

This sense of humor remained present throughout Duchamps entire career, with his

works often exploring comical and even absurd undertones. For example, Duchamps work, 3

Standard Stoppages (1913-14), shows an unrealistic and nonsensical reimaging of the meter. The

artist took three meter-length threads and dropped them onto canvases (MoMA, n.d.). It was then

implied that the resulting curves were each a meter long and could have technically been used to

measure this length, but they were obviously impractical to use. This reimagining, taking the

useful tool of a meter and making it useless can only make viewers stop and think, and hopefully

laugh at the idea. Another way that Duchamp achieved a comical affect in his work was through

the use of puns, as in his L.H.O.O.Q. (1919). L.H.O.O.Q. takes a depiction of the Mona Lisa,

which was only recently returned to the Louvre after an art heist, and morphs it into a racy work

of art with the addition of the title (Christies, n.d.). When spoken aloud in French, the letters

LHOOQ sound as the phrase Elle a chaud au cul, which Duchamp translated as There is a fire
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 4

down below and more literally translated means She has a hot ass (Christies, n.d.). This

playful addition to the work of art adds humor to a well-respected cultural icon as well as raises

questions about the appropriation of anothers craft. Duchamp also explored this idea of taking

an already created object and repurposing it as art, a technique that produced the aptly titled

readymades.

The most famous Duchamp readymade is Fountain (1917). Although the original work

has been lost, this piece lives on through the uproar it caused and the numerous reproductions.

The sculpture consists of a urinal that was turned on its side and signed as R. Mutt. The work

was originally intended to be displayed as part of the new established Society of Independent

Artists (Tate, n.d.). The societys board of directors rejected the work because they viewed that a

sanitary fixture could not be considered art, and especially could not be shown to women of the

time (Tate, n.d.). The work was stored behind a partition in the gallery, and Duchamp brought it

out to be photographed by the gallery owner, Alfred Stieglitz (1877-1946), and this photo is the

only evidence of the original work existing as it was misplaced or thrown away (Tate, n.d.). The

notion that an object such as a depiction of the Mona Lisa as in L.H.O.O.Q. or a bathroom

fixture as in Fountain was absurd and created conversation about what could and could not be

considered art. Ultimately, as these pieces are often discussed as part of the history of modern

art, many would argue that they can be considered works of art, creating a more freeing

definition of art for future artists.

Because of the seemingly simple nature of his art, some may criticize Duchamps lack of

craftsmanship in works such as Fountain, but several works of art took years to produce.

Duchamp began working on The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass)

in 1915 and in 1923 stopped working on the piece, declaring it definitively unfinished
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 5

(Philadelphia, n.d.a). The construction of the work was meticulous, with evidence of studies

present in The Green Box which was a collection of sketches, music, and other media in which

Duchamp attempted to figure out the final form of the work. Eventually, he settled upon using

large panes of glass and other materials to create a work to look at and through, presenting the

viewer with a unique viewing experience (Philadelphia, n.d.a). In transport in 1927, the piece

was shattered, and ten years later Duchamp painstakingly reassembled the work between two

additional panes, allowing for the cracks to be made part of the work and officially declaring it

finished (Philadelphia, n.d.a).

Throughout these and many other works, we see several techniques that Duchamp used in

his art. These include humor, as in the case of L.H.O.O.Q and 3 Standard Stoppages, the creation

of readymades as in Fountain, and even the use of chance as in his reconstruction of The Large

Glass, allowing for the accidental act of the breaking of the glass to become the artwork and to

truly finish it. These techniques would continue in artists after him, coming to the forefront in the

1950s-1960s. John Cage was one of the major proponents of Duchamps art, and although he is

seen often as a composer, Cage was involved deeply in the avant-garde art scene. Cage

implemented humor, chance, and in some ways even the spirit of readymades into his music.

John Cage was an American composer who studied with Arnold Schoenberg, one of the

paramount composers of the early 20th century (John Cage, 2015). He spent years in New York

participating in the visual and music arts and was a fan of Duchamps work early on. The

absurdity of Dada artists inspired cage to experiment within the field of music. His works often

included unorthodox instruments, including the prepared piano, in which a regular piano has

objects placed over or between the strings such as nuts and bolts or weather stripping (John

Cage, 2015). This technique is shown best in his Sonatas and Interludes (1946-1948), and it
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 6

creates a unique, percussive, and almost comical sound. The work was based around Hindu

philosophy, and many of his pieces throughout his oeuvre would explore the idea of Zen and

Eastern philosophy especially relating to indeterminacy (John Cage Trust, n.d.e). The prepared

piano was even the instrument of choice that Cage composed for in the piece Music for Marcel

Duchamp, which was written for a Hans Richter film entitled Dreams that Money Can Buy

(1947) (JCT, n.d.d).

As mentioned, eastern philosophy was present in Cages work, especially through his

chosen method of indeterminacy. Cage would use the I-Ching, an ancient Chinese text, to

determine choices in his composition (John Cage, n.d.). He could often be seen on buses

flipping coins and making tables of random results from these coin flips in order to consult the I-

Ching later, and eventually had a computer program made for him to simulate the coin flipping.

This controlled randomness can be seen in pieces such as Child of Tree (1975), in which the

performer is given I-Ching operations to select 10 instruments made from plant material to

perform with (JCT, n.d.b). Odd instruments such as cacti and pods from the Poinciana tree

combine with indeterminacy for Cage to create a unique work each performance, as well as an

opportunity to explore sound outside of the context of traditional music.

One of Cages most famous experiments in exploring noise outside of music is his

composition 433 (1952). This invites the performer to sit in silence for four minutes and thirty-

three seconds, keeping track of the time on a stopwatch (JCT, n.d.a). This piece forces the

audience to listen to silence, but in reality they will hear ambient noises of the room they are

in, traffic outside of the venue, and the breathing and shuffling of those around them (JCT, n.d.a).

This piece invites the listener to listen to sound as it is, to take the readymade ambient noise of

the world and to consider it for what it is. Other works would be more overt with their portrayal
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 7

of sound as music. In February 1960, a broadcast of the television show Ive Got a Secret

featured John Cage performing a composition entitled Waterwalk (1959). The work features

instruments including a grand piano, 5 radios, a pressure cooker, toy fish, ice cubes, a bathtub

and more. These objects are then interacted with in an effort to explore their unique sounds

(Merrill & Sherman, 1960). Cage was asked by the host if he would be offended if the audience

laughed at the performance if they found noises to be humorous and Cage insisted he would not

be upset at all, implying that his work could be heard as humorous if the listener felt moved to

hear it that was (Merrill & Sherman, 1960). John Cage even quoted Emmanuel Kant in an

interview about silence, saying there are two things that dont have to mean anything, one is

music and the other is laughter. Dont have to mean anything that is, in order to give us deep

pleasure (Jdavidm, 2007). He invites listeners to laugh with his music, to experience it more

fully by engaging in the human experience through their laughter.

Both artists stepped outside of their main genre of creation, taking time to explore other

creative fields as well. Duchamp had two main forays in the world of music. The first was a

work entitled With Hidden Noise (1916), which consists of a ball of twine, two metal plates, and

a hidden object. Duchamp had a friend insert an object into the sculpture and sealed the two

plates on either end of the ball of twine, trapping it inside (Philadelphia, n.d.d). This pieces title

is a reference to the object within, and arguably the only way to experience the piece fully is to

know what the hidden objects noise is. This method of mystery accomplished one of John

Cages goals of separating sound from its context, in a way that Cage would struggle with. Cage

wanted his listeners to be able to hear sounds for what they were, rather than creating a narrative

or context for them. This work accomplished this by removing the opportunity for narrative, not

allowing the viewer to draw context from the identity of the object inside.
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 8

A second approach to music was Sculpture Musical (1913), in which Duchamp provided

what would become later known as an event score. It was a set of instructions reading Sounds

lasting and leaving from different places and forming a sounding sculpture that lasts (Harvey,

2014). Because of the vague nature of these instructions a large amount of interpretation is

available for the performers, just as a large amount of interpretation was possible through his

readymades. The project to realize this score has been accomplished in a variety of ways,

including one performance which utilized speakers placed in various rooms emitting different

pitches that would be associated with those rooms, allowing the listener to feel the effects of the

sound on the architecture (Harvey, 2014). Works of art and music such as Sculpture Musical

have a unique opportunity for the contemporary artist, allowing a chance to study a historically

significant work, but also to reconstruct the artwork under scrutiny (Harvey, 2014). This

reconstruction is not reproducing a work of art as if one copied a painting, but a way to

participate in and experience the art, following the directions produces art that is new and

exciting while still remaining true to the vision of the original artist.

This is a rather accepted notion in music, that the composers true artwork does not exist

in notation, but is brought into existence when it is performed. However, John Cage made

excursions into the visual arts, especially through his notation. Cage was an avid proponent of

early graphic notation, a technique in which a composer would write a piece of music with non-

traditional notation. This could mean anything from devising a new system of notation that

abandoned all aspect of standard notation, utilizing some aspects of standard notation while

ignoring others, or even creating works of art that were meant to be realized fully in performance

by musicians. One composition by John Cage that features a graphic notation is Fontana Mix

(1958). This work is written as a series of pieces of paper with curves on them, and
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 9

transparencies with grids, points, or lines. By overlaying these elements the performer can create

performance based off the generated structure, allowing for a large amount of chance in the

performance (JCT, n.d.c). John Cage was so fascinated with the idea of graphic notation that he

compiled a book entitled Notations (1969), which was published through a publisher of 20th

century music scores. The book is a collection of scores and score fragments from various

composers, without a description of how they should be performed (1969). This book serves as

an anthology for graphic notation of the period, presenting the visual material alongside quotes

that were written, arranged and stylized (font, size, etc.) according to I-Ching chance operations

(Cage, 1969). The book itself serves as a work of art, with a large number of formatting choices

left to the same operations of Cages compositions, presenting the highly visual and intriguing

work compiled together. It is almost reminiscent of Duchamps L.H.O.O.Q.; the combination of

other artists works with a written language aspect, presented as a new work of art.

Cages work in indeterminacy also made its way into the visual arts as he explored ways

to translate randomness into visuals. Some of the pieces used techniques from artists in the Dada

movement. Changes and Disappearances (1980) was a series of etchings created by dropping

lengths of string onto a metal etching plate in order to create lines (Princeton, n.d.). This practice

was taken from Dada artists who came before him such as Jean Arps Untitled (Squares

Collaged According to the Laws of Chance) (1917). The title of Cages work references the

pieces of string that he would drop which fell off of the etching plate, he called these strings

disappearances. Still, other works by John Cage are arranged in newly random ways. An

example of how Cage used I-Ching Operations is clearly evident in his first foray in the visual

arts in the piece Not Wanting to Say Anything About Marcel (1969), which was created a year

after Marcel Duchamps death. Jasper Johns, a close artist friend of both Cage and Duchamp was
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 10

quoted as saying that he did not want to say anything about Duchamp, and this was the

inspiration that Cage took in creating this artwork (Cantor, n.d.). The text, the color, the angle,

font and many other choices for each item on the piece was chosen through the I-Ching questions

that John Cage proposed. The resulting work is a series of Plexigrams, consisting of eight sheets

of Plexiglas that were arranged so that the viewer could look through them all (Cantor, n.d.). This

play on visibility and invisibility takes Duchamps concept from The Large Glass, and stretches

it further, including multiple transparent images decided randomly through chance operations to

combine together against whatever background they were placed. In this way, perhaps the piece

does actually say something about Marcel Duchamp, a commentary on where his concepts had

yet to be taken, ways in which the art world could grow because of him.

As mentioned, Marcel Duchamp died before John Cage experimented in visual arts, but

they had known each other for a long time. Cage met Duchamp after admiring his work and

composing the piece Music for Marcel Duchamp. They had many conversations together about a

variety of topics, often not even talking about art, rather choosing to discuss chess, food and the

people they knew (Roth, 1973, p. 129). They collaborated one time before Duchamps passing in

Cages composition Reunion (1968), in which a chess board was outfitted with electronics.

Duchamp beat Cage easily and most of the evening was spent in a game between Cage and

Duchamps wife Teeny. At one point Cage turned to Duchamp and asked Arent these strange

sounds to which Duchamp replied To say the least (Roth, 1973, p.129) Their relationship

seemed to have a mutual lack of complete understanding, something that neither seemed to mind.

In fact, in an interview Cage recounts talking to Teeny and saying You know, I understand very

little about Marcels work. Much of it remains very mysterious to me. To which she replied It

does to me, too (Roth, 1973, p. 129).

 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 11

Those around Duchamp did not fully understand what was going on in his work, but they

admired it and saw it as valuable. Duchamps work was so valuable in fact that when Cage was

struggling to raise money for the Foundation for Contemporary Performing Arts, he sold his

Czechoslovakian Mushroom Society membership card, signed by Duchamp, for $500 (Roth,

1973, p. 132). The goodwill nature of Duchamp led him to sign another of Cages membership

cards once it came in the mail, showing a friendship between them that went very deep. This

friendship makes itself obvious through the various works Cage dedicated to Marcel, including

several works of poetry and experimental literature including James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp,

Erik Satie: An Alphabet (1981-1982). This work imagines several characters coming together in

a meeting, with each line of poetry containing a letter that spelled the name of the three title

characters (Cage, 2001). An excerpt of the work shows this process clearly (Example 1). The

effort to include mentions of Cages close friends and idols in each line of poetry shows a

commitment to them and their names, allowing them to live on forever outside of their own

work, through his.

Narrator thu M bing

by me A ns of a noninflammable match
th R ough an unabridged
di C tionary
duchamp notic E s three entries on facing pages
two with i L lustrations

re D -headed woodpecker
wood titmo U se
and wood C ock
that gives H im
the ide A
to M ake readymobiles in unlimited editions
and to P lace the first one

Example 1. John Cages utilization of Marcel Duchamps name in the creation of poetry
for James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An Alphabet (Cage, 2001, p. 15)
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 12

Their friendship and individual advancements helped create to two major impacts in the

art and music world. First of all, both were comfortable shedding new light on masculinity. John

Cage was in a relationship with Merce Cunningham throughout most of his life, and both he and

Duchamp worked and socialized with Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns who were in a

homosexual relationship together. Homosexuality was present and lively in the modern art

movement, although it received criticism from other artists. For example, the Abstract

Expressionist school was very tied to masculinity, something in direct opposition to the

flamboyant LGBTQ+ scene. Although Duchamp did not identify as homosexual, he was

comfortable playing with the role of masculinity, as shown in his alter ego of Rrose Slavy.

Several of Duchamps works were signed by this female artist whos name was a pun that

sounded similar to the French phrase Eros, Cest la vie, meaning Eros, such is life. This

female alter ego also appears in a Man Ray portrait entitled Marel Duchamp as Rrose Slavy

(1920-1921) (Philadelphia, n.d.b). This shows a willingness of Duchamp to dress in drag and to

experiment with masculinity. Additionally, in an interview with Frank Llyod Wright, Duchamp

defended homosexualitys involvement in the modern arts Duchamp stated that modern art was

not degenerate and creating homosexuals, but rather that the homosexual audience showed an

interest in the modern arts that other communities did not (Roth, 1998b, p. 5). While Wright

attempted to call homosexuals degenerate, Duchamp chose to push back and fight for gay

inclusion in the art world, a trend that continued throughout the twentieth century.

The second impact was on the creation of the Fluxus School. The Fluxus school was an

avant-garde school of art including the artists Yoko Ono, Robert Filliou, Nam June Paik, Alison

Knowles, and George Brecht. These artists and composers created the concept of happenings,

which were events that took place, often based on event scores in which the performer would
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 13

complete an action. This school drew upon works such as Duchamps Scuplture Musicale and

Cages inventive instrumentation to push the boundaries of performance art. Fluxus artists often

credit Cage in their writings, and as Cage was often inspired Duchamp there is a lineage of

creation that is still present today as the Fluxus School is still operating (Bukoff, 2006).

Marcel Duchamp and John Cage have stretched the concepts of what falls under the

categories of art and music to their extremes. It is likely that someday, if they have not already,

other artists will come along and stretch these categories further, but that would be impossible

without the foundations Cage and Duchamp laid. The two artists have provided new and unique

commentary on humor, indeterminacy and masculinity, enriching the world through their art. Not

only does their art embrace the category of modern through its chronological place in time, but

by embracing changes in society over the last century and allowing art to grow alongside

humanity, and even providing more avenues for growth.

 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 14

References

Bukoff, A. (2006). Fluxus portal for the internet. Retrieved from http://www.fluxus.org

Cage, J. (1967). 26 statements re Duchamp. In A. Wilkins (Ed.), Dancing around the bride:
Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp (pp. 70-73) New Haven, CT:
Yale University Press.

Cage, J. (2001). James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An alphabet. New York, NY: The
John Cage Trust.

Cage, J. (1969). Notations. New York, NY: Something Else Press.

Cage, J. (1982). Themes & Variations. Barrytown, NY: Station Hill Press.

Calvin, T. (1962). Ahead of the game: Four versions of avant-garde. Harmondsworth,

Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd.

Cantor Arts Center (n.d.). Not wanting to say anything about Marcel: John Cage plexigrams.
Retrieved from https://museum.stanford.edu/news_room/john-cage.html.

Christies (n.d.). Marcel Duchamp. L.H.O.O.Q. Retrieved from

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Paintings/marcel-duchamp-lhooq-5994817-
details.aspx?lid=1.

Harvey, John. (2014, October 31). Making ready Duchamp 2: Sculpture Musicale. [Web blog].
Retrieved from https://johnharveyblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/31/making-ready-
duchamp-2-sculpture-musicale/

Jdavidm (2007, July 14). John Cage about Silence. [Video File]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcHnL7aS64Y.

John Cage. (2015, August 26). In Encyclopdia Britannica online. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Cage

John Cage Trust (n.d.a). 433. Retrieved from http://johncage.org/pp/John-Cage-Work-

Detail.cfm?work_ID=17.

John Cage Trust (n.d.b). Child of Tree. Retrieved from http://johncage.org/pp/John-Cage-Work-

Detail.cfm?work_ID=40.

John Cage Trust (n.d.c). Fontana Mix. Retrieved from http://johncage.org/pp/John-Cage-Work-

Detail.cfm?work_ID=79

John Cage Trust (n.d.d). Music for Marcel Duchamp. Retrieved from
http://johncage.org/pp/John-Cage-Work-Detail.cfm?work_ID=123.
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 15

John Cage Trust (n.d.e). Sonatas and Interludes. Retrieved from http://johncage.org/pp/John-
Cage-Work-Detail.cfm?work_ID=188.

Level, R. (2017, December 27). Encyclopdia Britannica: Marcel Duchamp. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcel-Duchamp.

Merrill, H. & Sherman, A. (Writers) & Heller, F. (Director). (1960, February 24). [Ive Got a
Secret]. In Goodson, M., Feldman, C., Sherman, A. & Todman, B. Burbank, CA:
FremantleMedia.

MoMA (n.d.). Marcel Duchamp. 3 Standard Stoppages. Retrieved from

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78990.

Philadelphia Museum of Art (n.d.a). The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The
Large Glass). Retrieved from
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/54149.html.

Philadelphia Museum of Art (n.d.b) Marcel Duchamp as Rrose Slavy. Retrieved from
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/56973.html

Philadelphia Museum of Art (n.d.c). Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2). Retrieved from
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/51449.html.

Philadelphia Museum of Art (n.d.d). With Hidden Noise. Retrieved from

http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/51541.html

Princeton University Art Museum (n.d.) Changes and Disappearances, No. 11, 1980. Retrieved
from http://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/51680.

Roth, M. (1998a). The aesthetic of indifference. In Difference/indifference: musings on

postmodernism, Marcel Duchamp and John Cage (pp. 1-16). Amsterdam, The
Netherlands: GB Arts International.

Roth, M. (1998b). Introduction. In Difference/indifference: musings on postmodernism, Marcel

Duchamp and John Cage (pp. 1-16). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: GB Arts
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Roth, M. (1973). John Cage on Marcel Duchamp an interview. In A. Wilkins (Ed.), Dancing
around the bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp (pp. 127-137)
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Tate (n.d.). Marcel Duchamp. Fountain. Retrieved from

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/duchamp-fountain-t07573.
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 16

Appendix A

The following is a list of artwork/music created by the author over the previous semester,

with short artist notes on each work. Each of these works is grounded in concepts present in

either Duchamp or Cages work or in direct opposition to it.

You Must Tell Them I Love You (2016-2017)

This piece was written with inspiration largely coming from Cages breakthroughs in

graphic notation. I wanted to write a piece about my mothers hospitalization this past year and

how I almost lost her. I wanted the work to be largely improvised, with a backing electronic track

that mimicked sounds from the hospital room. This piece has a performance score in the form of

a document, a sound recording and a visual score. The visual score is not yet complete and is

being worked on after the premiere to best reflect what was performed during the initial

performance. The visual score was meant to provide an atmosphere that standard notation would

not accomplish, and the meat of the composition was accomplished through the written score and

performance.

$30.64 (2017)

This work is a readymade that takes after the tradition of Marcel Duchamp. It consists of

766 printed copies of a worldatlasbook.com map of Europe. This readymade was found at the

Saint Norbert College Mulva Library, sitting on the printer and being left there for several days.

It was likely a mistaken printing job in which too many copies were printed, but whether it was

on purpose or not, it was left there for some time. The name of the work is a reference to the

price that the artwork would cost to print at $0.04 per page at Saint Norbert College. It is up for
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 17

the viewer to decide how to interpret this information and to ascribe meaning to the artwork.

While the artist may have some commentary, it is more interesting to create an analysis of this

work by disregarding the artists role.

a DEFENCE for the DADA esthetic and specifically refer to 3 works of art (among those

noted in the syllabus) in your argument. (2017)

This work was created in response to a test question proposed by Fr. James Neilson on a

midterm take-home essay. The question read

Compose a DEFENCE for the DADA esthetic and specifically refer to 3 works

of art (among those noted in the syllabus) in your argument.

Upon reflection of this question, it became evident that words could not capture the true

essence of the Dada esthetic as well as a piece of art could. The artwork itself is absurd

and the fact that it was submitted as an answer to an essay question itself hints towards

the rebellious side of the Dada aesthetic that Duchamp was part of. However, the artwork

does indeed contain three references to specific works of Dada art that were studied as

part of the class. The wordplay in the title makes use of the many ways that the term

compose is used. The obvious intention was to compose a written essay, however in this

work the musical notation makes this a music composition as well. This word play is

reminiscent of the puns that Duchamp was fond of, such as in his work L.H.O.O.Q. and

in the use of alter egos with puns such as Rrose Slavy. Another reference to L.H.O.O.Q.

was made through the use of the mustache present beneath the two notes in measure 23.

This addition of a humorous mark is a clear homage and was meant to be humorous. The
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 18

third reference is to that of chance such as in Duchamp, Cage and Arps works. The

instrument, the Taepyeongso was chosen using a random number generator to navigate

the menus in the software, selecting an instrument at chance for the piece.

I Dont Know (2017) and Music for Hinged Wood (2017)

As the Fluxus movement grew out of the traditions of Duchamp and Cage, two forms of

event scores came to be. Some scores, such as I Dont Know, were written with large

performance instructions that guided the performer through very precise actions. This piece was

written for a friend and gives a set of instruction to perform that create a comedic effect, utilizing

elements of chance. Other scores, such as Music for Hinged Wood, were written with vary sparse

directions. These are open to many interpretations, similar to Duchamps work Sculpture

Musicale. Both of these scores were written as humorous pieces for friends, and many Fluxus

scores are dedicated to others in similar ways.

African Grass Growing (2017)

This work was an attempt at engaging in a conversation about homosexuality in the

modern and contemporary arts. While artists like Cage and Duchamp would reference

homosexuality, neither presented a visual or musical truth to what was happening in the

communities. African Grass Growing (2017) is a reaction to a 1998 letter to the editor that was

published in the Saint Norbert College newspaper. This document was saved by a former leader

in the SNC Rainbow Alliance as a document of campus climate, and while work like this is not

as widely accepted in the community, none of this language is eradicated from campus.

LGBTQ+ students on campus have been told they are going to hell, that there are no LGBTQ+
 MAREL DUCHAMP AND JOHN CAGE 19

students on campus, that nobody cares about their struggles or that they are not welcome. The

anonymous nature of the editorial is also important to note as many of the contemporary attacks

on LGBTQ+ students have been through the use of anonymous social media, lending the same

perceived safety and separation of the author. This work contains four male symbols in the lower

right corner, a reference to Andy Warhols work Race Riot (1964), which displayed the race riots

of America in the patriotic colors of the country Red, White and Blue. While America may be

changing its thoughts on LBTQ+ inclusion (and still has farther to go) is SNC really moving

ahead, or does this article presented in our colors Yellow, Green and White serve as a

reminder that we have refused to change?