18’7489”
— 4’33”
— 4’33”
Na sveučilištu Vassar, u državi New York, John Cage je 1948. prezentirao rad Silent player, kompoziciju neprekinute tišine koja je trebala biti emitirana na radiju.
In 1948. at Vassar university, State of New York, John Cage presented his work Silent player, a composition of a continuous silence, which was supposed to be broadcast on the radio.
Rad nikada nije zapisan, trebao je imati prosječnu duljinu trajanja radijske izvedbe, između 3 i 4,5 minuta. Silent player, preddatira 4’33” za četiri godine i poslužio je Cageu kao osnova u duljini trajanja i osnovnoj ideji, ali za razliku od 4’33” koji je izvođen u živo, Silent player je trebao biti snimka, čija je struktura potpuno drugačija. Činjenica da Silent player nikada nije izveden je objašnjiva Cageovim pojačanim interesom 50ih za izvedbom uživo i performansom, a ne samo reprodukcijom koja se pušta putem zvučnika. Istovremeno, Cagea sve više interesira prostornost zvuka, a ne linearnost. Cage nije bio prvi skladatelj koji je skladao rad koji se sastoji isključivo od tišine.
The work was never written, it was conceived to have an average length of a radio performance, between 3 and 4,5 Minutes. Silent player, predated 4’33” for four years and served Cage as a basis for the duration and the basic idea, but unlike 4’33”, which is performed live, Silent player was supposed to be recorded, with the structure that is completely different from 4’33”. The fact that Silent player was never done is explainable by Cage’s heightened interest for the live performances and happenings in the 50’s, and not just reproduction played through the speakers. At the same time, Cage started to be more interested in the spatiality of sound, rather than linearity of time. Cage was not the first composer who composed a work that consists solely of silence.
Njegovi prethodnici su: • Alphonse Allais koji 1897. sklada Posmrtnu koračnicu za pogreb gluhoga čovjeka, koja se sastoji od devet praznih stavaka. • Erwin Schulhoff 1919. sklada In futurum, komponiranu za klavir, sastavljenu isključivo od pauza. • Harold Acton 1928. objavljuje knjigu Cornelium, u kojoj glazbenik svira skladbe sastavljene skoro isključivo od tišine. • Yves Klein 1949. izvodi Simfoniju monotone tišine, orkestralno djelo koje traje četrdeset minuta, a koje se sastoji od dva dijela od dvadeset minuta tišine.
His predecessors are: • Alphonse Allais in 1897 composed ”Funeral March for the Obsequies of a Deaf Man”, a musical work consisting entirely of rests. • Erwin Schulhoff in 1919 composed ”Harmony futurum”, for piano, consisting solely of breaks. • Harold Acton in 1928 published a book titled Cornelium, in which a musician plays songs composed almost entirely of silence. • Yves Klein in 1949 composed ”The Monotone-Silence Symphony”, orchestral work that lasts forty minutes and consists of two parts of twenty minutes of silence.
— 18’7489”
— 18’7489”
Kad svedemo vremensku linearnu duljinu trajanja 4’33”, na numeričku vrijednost 4,33 i dodamo joj dodatnu dimenziju, širinu, dobijemo vrijednost površine same tišine i time ulazimo u novu dimenziju tišine.
When we reduce the linear time duration of 4’33” to the numerical value we get 4,33 and by adding to it an additional dimension, the width, we obtain a value of surface of the silence and by it we enter in a new dimension of silence.
4,33
4,33 X 4,33, odnosno duljina pomnožena sa širinom, iznosi 18,7489. To je proizvoljna i simbolička duljina trajanja rada s čime se insinuira dodatna dimenzija, koja je dodana Cageovoj 4’33”.
4.33 x 4.33, or the length multiplied by width, is 18.7489. It is arbitrary and symbolic duration of work which insinuates additional dimension added to Cage’s 4’33”.
4,33
4,33
Ujedno 4’33” je dodana dimenzija površine distribucije samoga rada, dimenzija širenja radijskih valova koji se šire linearno i dimenzija ulaženja u strukturu 4’33”, ukidanjem medija distribucije. Upravo taj nedostatak medija je potpuna tišina. Sve dok postoji medij distribucije, potpuna tišina je nemoguća zbog zvuka samoga nosioca(medija). Sve dok postoji tišina, ona se može čuti, samo kad nestane, ona se ne može više čuti. Sve dok slušam tišinu, znači da nešto čujem.
At the same time, the dimension of the surface distribution of the work itself has been added to 4’33”. It is the dimension of expansion of radio waves that spread linearly and the dimension of entering the structure of 4’33”, by eliminating the media of distribution. It is the lack of media that is the complete silence. As long as there is a medium of distribution, a complete silence is impossible due to the noise of the carrier (medium). As long as there is silence, it can be heard, only when the medium disappears then it can no longer be heard. As long as I am listening to the silence, it means that I hear something.
Isključivanjem nosioca omogućava se da se čuje potpuna tišina i otvara se mogućnost da se čuju drugi kanali koji su inače utišani. Cage se bavi tišinom, a mene zanima praznina i što se pojavljuje tada.
By turning off the carrier, complete silence can be heard and it opens the opportunity to hear other channels that are normally silenced. Cage deals with silence, and I am interested in emptiness and what appears then.
S obzirom na karakteristike radija i prirodu distribucije radijske frekvencije, dolazi do neravnomjerne distribucije signala, s obzirom na lokaciju slušatelja i jačinu odašiljača distributera. Isključivanjem radijske frekvencije 3. programa Hrvatskog radija na 18 minuta i 7,489 sekunde dobiva se prostor praznine koji se ispunja najbližim frekvencijama slušateljevog radio prijamnika. Svaki od slušatelja ima potpuno drugačiju “izvedbu”, s obzirom na njegovu lokaciju i jačinu signala okolnih radio postaja unutar sličnog frekvencijskog raspona kao i 3. program Hrvatskog radija.
Given the characteristics of the radio and the nature of the distribution of radio frequencies, it leads to uneven distribution of signals, depending on the location of the listener and the strength of the transmitter of the radio stations. By turning the radio frequency of the radio program OFF for 18 minutes and 7.489 seconds, you get a gap in the space that is filled with other closest frequencies of other radio programs that are in the vicinity of the listener’s radio receiver. Each listener has a totally different ”performance”, according to its location and signal strength of nearby radio stations within the similar frequency range.
Time se dobiva nešto slično Cageovoj 4’33”, samo sa puno većim rasponom i demokratizacijom “izvedbe”. Svi slušatelji 3. programa postaju dio izvedbe, performansa i ima svoju vlastitu, nasumičnu izvedbu koja varira od “bijelog šuma”, pa do nasumičnih frekvencija koje upadaju u frekvencijski prostor i pripadaju drugim radijskim postajama.
We get something similar to Cage’s 4’33”, only with much greater range and democratization of ”performance.” All the listeners of the program are becoming part of the execution, performance, and have their own random variation that varies from ”white noise” to the random frequencies that fall into frequency space of their receiver and belong to other radio stations.
Cage se u 4’33” bavio tišinom, odnosno nemogućnošću postizanja iste i preusmjeravanjem pozornosti sa izvođača na publiku. Sam rad svakom izvedbom je potpuno drugačiji, s obzirom da ovisi o okolnim faktorima izvedbe, publici, akustici dvorane.... dakle, nemoguće ga je ponovo izvesti, čime je njegova reprodukcija samo izvedba dokumentacije, a stvaran rad se može doživiti samo neposredno. Isto tako, 18’7489” funkcionira kao “događaj” i ne može postojati kao reprodukcija, odnosno, ne može ga se snimiti, baš zbog toga što ni jedan slušatelj nema istu zvučnu sliku. Ne može postojati kao zvučni zapis nego samo kao izvedba u živo.
In 4’33” Cage deals with silence, or the inability to achieve it, and with redirecting attention from the performer on to the audience. Every performance is completely different, since it depends on the surrounding factors of the performance; the audience, the acoustics of the hall .... Therefore, it is impossible to repeat it. It can exist only as a reproduction, or documentation, but the real work can be experienced only immediately, in real time. That is also the case in 18’7489”, it functions as an ”event” and can not exist as a recording, i.e., it can not be recorded, because no listener has the same sound picture. It can not exist as a soundtrack, but only as a live performance.
Specifičnost 18’7489” je nasumičnost izvedbe i radikalnost u preuzimanju prostora “emitiranja”. Ta radikalnost se očituje u distribuciji ideje, a ne signala. Emitiranje je ovdje pod navodnicima jer podrazumijeva ograničavajući pojam odašiljanja signala, dok u slučaju 18’7489” emitiranje je distribuiranje ideje i ne podrazumijeva nužno signal.
The specificity of 18’7489” is the randomness and radicalism of ”performance” by taking over the emptiness as part of ”broadcasting”. This radicality manifests in distribution of an idea without a signal. Broadcasting in quotation marks as restrictive concept that includes transmitting a signal, while in the case of 18’7489” broadcasting refers to distribution of an idea and does not neceserely imply a radio signal.
18’7489” preuzima prostor praznine, prostor lišen prisutnosti signala i pretvara ga u programsku formu emitiranja. Bez obzira što je 3. program isključen, samim tim što je to dio njegovog programskog plana, to je i dalje dio njegovog “emitiranja”. Postojanje 3. programa nije upitno, nego je štoviše i naglašeno.
18’7489 “takes up the space of the void, the space deprived of the presence of the signal and converts it into a broadcast format. No matter if radio program is off, simply because it is part of its program plan, it is still part of its ”broadcast”. The existence of the radio program is not questionable, but moreover highlighted.
Izvorno riječ emitiranje potječe od ranih radijskih inženjera iz regije Midwestern u Sjedinjenim američkim državama, a na engleskom jeziku glasi “broadcasting” iliti sijanje sjemenja na velikoj površini. Onda, u tom slučaju izraz “emitiranje” i nije tako pogrešan jer označava sijanje sjemena ideje na velikim područjima, a ne odnosi se isključivo na medij radija i nosioca signala. Znači sve dok se prenosi neka ideja i dalje se emitira program.
Originally the word ”broadcast” originates from the early radio engineers from the region of the Midwestern United States, and literary means ”broad casting”, sowing seeds in large areas. Therefore, the term ”broadcasting” is not as wrong, because it means planting seed of ideas on large areas, and does not refer solely to the media of radio or the carrier signal. So, as long as an idea is carried the program is being emitted.
Upravo je rad 18’7489” sjeme(ideja) koje, da bi u potpunosti zaživilo, treba izvedbu u živo, svoj prostor realizacije.
The work 18’7489” is the seed (idea) and in order to fully come to life, it needs its live performance, the space of its realization.