Last week, PBS’ The Art Assignment caught up with Bang on a Can cronies composer Julia Wolfe and guitarist Mark Stewart.
The latest episode features the experimental musicians looking for alternatiove instruments such as nail files and a fuse box at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, a contemporary art museum in North Adams, Mass. For their personalized episode, they propose the challenge: FIND YOUR BAND.
Taking inspiration from folk music phenom Pete Seeger and noise god John Cage, the challenge comes alive. For the assignment, Stewart proposed the title “John Cage Meets Pete Seeger: The World is a Symphony Want to Join In.”
The episode 14 instructions are clear:
1. go through your day and notice all the sounds around you
2. choose a group of those sounds to be your band
3. join the band!
4. record or document what happens and upload to your social media platform of choice with #theartassignment
5. fame and glory (your work might be in a future episode)
What we are left with then is Wolfe and Stewart bang(ing) on a washer and drier, garbage cans and liners. Watch below the stunning impromptu experimental music performance.
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