From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!orca!javelin.sim.es.com!biesel Thu Apr 30 15:22:17 EDT 1992
Article 5219 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: biesel@javelin.sim.es.com (Heiner Biesel)
Subject: Re: Intelligence, awareness, and esthetics
Message-ID: <1992Apr23.153550.2375@javelin.sim.es.com>
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
References: <1992Apr21.212425.9210@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com> <1992Apr22.122656.1303@nuscc.nus.sg> <1992Apr22.153550.19640@javelin.sim.es.com> <1992Apr23.121553.6713@nuscc.nus.sg>
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1992 15:35:50 GMT
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smoliar@jit.iss.nus.sg (stephen smoliar) writes:

>In article <1992Apr22.153550.19640@javelin.sim.es.com>
>biesel@javelin.sim.es.com (Heiner Biesel) writes:
>>
>>I've always thought that 4'33'' was Cage's finest work, and hoped he would
>>spend more of his time in this vein. Imagine the stupendous 1h 17' 29''
>>for orchestra, organ and chorus, in b flat. I contend its premiere would
>>rival that of The Rite of Spring.
>>
>The biggest problem with Cage is that people are more inclined to discuss what
>they have read ABOUT him than what they have heard BY him.  Anyone who has
>seriously followed Cage's work knows that he has already achieved the ultimate
>culmination of 4'33".  It is called 0'00".  I last heard it performed in Los
>Angeles five years ago as part of a series of concerts celebrating his 75th
>birthday.

Alas, I sneezed at an inopportune moment, and missed it. 

Seriously, though, these kinds of minimalist works raise another question
in the context of the Shannon measures. Is there some minimum amount of
information transfer required to produce the esthetic response to a work
of art? If so, how small can it get? We all know the effect of an in-joke:
a single word or phrase can provoke a complex response when it alludes
to a known and shared situation. Does the effect occur in art?

Regards,
       Heiner biesel@thrall.sim.es.com


