WP3 Pre-writing assignment 4

During the class where we examined John Cage’s 4’33”, we were forced to listen and view the piece numerous times and were given absolutely no instruction as to what to listen for, write, or do during the entire class. Some of us were dumbfounded as to what we were viewing, others took the class period to take a nap. No matter what it was that we did during this class period, we all were taken aback by this new form of class. This class made some of us laugh, while others were angered by the fact that this was what we were doing all class. During class time, I jotted down some ideas as to what it was that I thought we were doing, but after viewing the video for nearly a half hour, I became befuddled and confused as to why I was sitting in the class.

After reading the blog and discussing this class session next class, I became aware of the idea that John Cage, and Joshua were trying to emphasize. John Cage conceptualized his piece as less than music. It was still music, but it was a completely different form. The following class we listened to Zaireeka. This forced us to not only do a complete one-eighty from our last class, but we now needed to view this piece as more than music. So, how can Juan Hamilton’s “Fragment X-O” be intensified? This is something that I knew I would have trouble with.

At a glance, Hamilton’s piece looks extremely dull and boring. Let’s face it, it’s just a circle! But what if we were to examine this piece in a completely different way? After getting to know Fragment X-O a little better by observing it from numerous different angles and intensifying it, I realized that it is much more than just art. My initial thought about this piece is that, even though it’s called “Fragment X-O,” there is no “X” to be found. That is, until I viewed the object from behind. When viewing the object from behind and looking through the sculpture, you are able to see that the sidewalks in which the object rests near create a perfect “X” when they intersect each other. Although this may be completely irrelevant to what Juan Hamilton was going for when creating this piece it still is very interesting to see how the art is influenced and viewed when it is considered with its natural surroundings. The topography helps very much in analyzing this photo.

Fragment X-O highly resembles a ring. Actually, it is a ring! Rings are extremely meaningful! An engagement ring can be the most significant item in someone’s life time. A ring symbolizes some form of wholeness or completeness. “One ring to rule them all. One ring to find them. One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.” This quote comes from The Lord of the Rings. Here, again the ring symbolizes a binding or a bond. Although this sculpture seems very simplistic, it actually may have some incredible symbolism.