26/05/2026
John Cage | Das Konzert in Halberstadt The Slowest Piece of Music | 25 Years of 639 Years
chord change: August 5, 2026 – international art occurrence
„I am for the birds, not for the cages“ – Ich bin für die Vögel, nicht für die Käfige. (John Cage)
Die 639 Jahre ORGAN²/ASLSP des amerikanischen Komponisten John Cage (*1912-1992) in Halberstadt sind eine gleichzeitig radikale und äußerst sanfte Realisierung diese Orgelstückes, welche die Spielanweisung des Komponisten „As Slow aS Possible“ – so langsam wie möglich – ernst nimmt. John Cage, einer der bedeutendsten Künstler in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts.
The 639-year performance of *ORGAN²/ASLSP* by the American composer John Cage (*1912–1992) in Halberstadt represents a realization of this organ piece that is simultaneously radical and profoundly gentle—one that takes seriously the composer’s performance instruction: "As Slow aS Possible." John Cage, one of the most significant artists of the second half of the 20th century, was not merely a musician but also a philosopher, painter, graphic artist, and linguistic innovator. He revolutionized modern music. For him, all sounds, tones, and noises possess equal validity and equal dignity. This applies even to what we call silence—which, according to Cage, signifies nothing more than the absence of intentional sounds. He was interested above all in sounds that were new, previously unheard, and surprising. His approach to musical material can be described as "de-composition"; the subjectivity of the composer—his personal likes and dislikes—was to be withdrawn, which is why he worked extensively with chance operations. His aim was to exhaust every possibility regarding formal and structural relationships, and to explore the shimmering diversity of the unstructured. He was interested in initiating processes whose subsequent unfolding could not be foreseen. He was a gentle anarchist who advocated for the utopia of a non-intentional, non-instrumental life—a simple state of "being-so" and "being-there."
