Cage Transmitted: 3 Part 2

Cage Transmitted: Evening 3 Part 1 featured a performance by Brooklyn based artist Lawrence Swan. Channeling the writer side of John Cage, Swan prepared a set of text read by chance. Swan describe the circumstances  around the event like this:"The St. Marks' event was in 2007, on Cage's birthday, September 5 (he died in 1992). I told the story to Jason Andrew and he suggested I tell it for Cage Transmitted. I said I have it written down and I could alter it some way appropriate to a Cage tribute. We agreed I would do "Prepared Text." The next day Jason informed me that my performance would be about 45 minutes long. Since that was a lot of time to read a very short story, and the performance was to be the following evening, I had to turn the text into a composition that would fill this time. First, I separated the sentences and numbered them, then I added ten more sentences from an email I sent to Jason describing what I was doing. I used materials at hand, the kind of materials I use in my three dimensional drawings: a tin can, a wood panel, a wood block, and Sharpies. I turned the block into a die. The block and can would be a percussion instrument as well as a way to determine the number of the sentence to be read. I drew a grid on the panel with 60 numbered squares. The panel is a kind of game board. By tossing the die I cycle through the grid until I have hit every square once and have read each corresponding sentence. I used a kitchen timer set at 30 minutes (not 45) and re-read several sentences to fill up the time until the timer rang."Lawrence Swan is a Brooklyn-based neo-folk artist who makes drawings and texts in various media. Read More =>