John Cage, Alec Soth and memory box research
- Tami
- May 12, 2021
- 4 min read
Before I make the continue on with making things, I want to take time to do some research into John Cage, Alec Soth and memory boxes. I first discovered about both John Cage and Alec Soth during a lecture on what I think was presentation of work and I became interested in John Cage's idea of chance and Alec Soth's presentation of a book by John Cage which reminded me of the way I looked at items in a "memory box". Therefore, I want to combine these and make something with it but before I do I want to take a look at these things and do some research into them. The video that I saw is below:
John Cage
"John Cage was an American artist best known for his Minimalist musical compositions. Often characterized by an unorthodox use of chance and mathematical formulas, the artist’s works also incorporated non-musical objects and periods of silence. In the early 1930s, Cage studied with Arnold Schönberg, the Austrian-born composer who invented and employed a 12-tone composition technique. Schoenberg was a significant influence on and inspiration for Cage’s own musical works. "
"His interest in chance was both cooler and more determined, a matter of submitting lightly, often humorously, to a new and impersonal discipline rather than sounding the depths of his wayward unconscious. Cage's own recourse to chance operations became progressively less personal, less influenced by taste or motive. He first reduced the spiritually inflected I Ching to a simple processor of random numbers, and later abandoned the book and his coin-tossing in favour of a specially written computer program that produced long lists of random numbers between 1 and 64."
Alec Soth
"Alec Soth’s work is rooted in the American photographic tradition that Walker Evans famously termed “documentary Style.” Concerned with the mythologies and oddities that proliferate America’s disconnected communities, Soth has an instinct for the relationship between narrative and metaphor. His clarity of voice has drawn many comparisons to literature, but he believes photography to be more fragmented; “It’s more like poetry than writing a novel.”
"When he photographs people, Soth feels nervous at times. He said: "My own awkwardness comforts people, I think. It’s part of the exchange." With people, he'll ask their permission to photograph them, and often wait for them to get comfortable. He tries to find a "narrative arc and true storytelling" and pictures in which each picture will lead to the next one."
I have already done research on memory boxes, this was during the memento part of stage 2. This comes from the blog post "Memento Project, Part III".
" Keepsake/Memory Box
Firstly I am with memory boxes/keepsake boxes. What is the definition, what are they used for?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keepsake_box
'A keepsake box or memory box, typically made from wood, is used for storing mementos of a special time, event or person. They are often created or purchased to mark life's major events like a christening, wedding, birthday, or First Holy Communion. They may also be given for sad occasions of bereavement, such as the stillbirth of a child, when a keepsake/memory box helps with the grieving process. This sort of a keepsake box may be personalised with a person's name, design or picture.'
I feel like in the future they may not used, at least in the way they are now. In order to conserve forests and such, they would no longer be made with wood but what where will thing be kept in then? "
I also took the idea of a memory box and made a short video on it at the beginning of the project. The video can be seen near the end of the blog post titled, "What is left to do?"
Now that I know more about the artists, who they are and what they have done, I feel like I have a clearer idea of what I want to make. I want to have a memory box filled with random items and have people comment on the items. They will not know what is in the box so it will be by chance if they can relate to the items or not. I think it would be interesting to have people decide what they want to talk about so show identity from their perspective but I think it is better to have it be random to show how connected human beings can be.
A friend had given me ideas on how perhaps to expand it, for example having a box with items of different cultures but I thought it felt too specific. They also suggested asking people to choose three items (which could be everyday items like a console, headphones, a slipper), explain why they chose it and also how it might play a part in their identity which is similar to the study on mementos that my tutor had given me to read.
They explained that,
"People with strict parents might choose a slipper because it reminds them of their childhood of whenever they got in trouble, they would get the slipper. Or if they chose a microphone it could be because they have always been shy but have strong opinions and they want to express their voice to the rest of the world. Or a hand fan because they lived in a country that was very hot or they were given a hand fan from a special person and therefore has emotional significance."
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