Foraging for mushrooms with John Cage: writing, art, photography and ephemera from an idiosyncratic chapter in the composer’s life

Imagined as an extended mushroom-foraging expedition, John Cage: A Mycological Foray gathers together Cage’s mushroom-themed compositions, photographs, illustrations and ephemera. Indeterminacy Stories and other writings by Cage are interwoven throughout the first volume within a central essay examining Cage’s enduring relationship with mycology. Also included is a transcript of Cage’s 1983 performance, MUSHROOMS et Variationes. The second volume is the inaugural reproduction of Cage’s 1972 portfolio, Mushroom Book, authored in collaboration with illustrator Lois Long and botanist Alexander H. Smith. Readers are thus drawn through the landscape of Cage’s mycologically centred oeuvre and interests, discovering assorted works, images, compositions, philosophies and ephemera, as one might encounter assorted fungi and flora while foraging.

John Cage: A Mycological Foray constitutes a new, idiosyncratic chapter in Cage’s oeuvre, a departure from the composer’s more established narrative.

American composer and music theorist John Cage (1912-92) was a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music and a leading figure of the postwar avant-garde. His influence extended to the realms of dance, poetry, performance and visual art.

《A Mycological Foray: Variations on Mushrooms》被想象成一次扩展的蘑菇探险，汇集了Cage以蘑菇为主题的作品、照片、插图和短讯。不确定的故事和Cage的其他著作在第一卷中交织在一起，在一篇中心文章中考察了Cage与菌类学的持久关系。此外，还包括Cage1983年的表演，MUSHROOMS et Variationes的文字记录。第二卷是Cage1972年的作品集蘑菇书的首次复制，该书是与插画家Lois Long和植物学家Alexander H. Smith合作撰写的。读者因此被吸引到Cage以菌类为中心的作品和兴趣的景观中，发现各种作品、图像、构图、哲学和简讯，就像人们在觅食时可能遇到各种真菌和植物一样。

《A Mycological Foray: Variations on Mushrooms》构成了凯奇作品中一个新的、独特的篇章，与作曲家更成熟的叙述方式不同。

美国作曲家和音乐理论家John Cage（1912-92）是音乐中的不确定因素、电声音乐的先驱，也是战后先锋派的领导人物。他的影响延伸到舞蹈、诗歌、表演和视觉艺术领域。