Good Morning, Mr. Orwell: John Cage, George Plimpton, and the World’s First Satellite “Installation”
by Maria PopovaCountering George Orwell’s dystopian vision with improvisational music and experimental art.
In a comment on the recent celebration of John Cage’s creative legacy, a reader flags this superb segment from the 1984 TV special Good Morning, Mr. Orwell — the first international satellite “installation” by South-Korean-born American artist Nam Jun Paik, a conceptual rebuttal to George Orwell’s famous 1984. Besides Cage’s improvisational performance “playing” cacti and other plants with a feather, an antecedent of more recent experiments with unusual instruments, we hear from legendary Paris Review co-founder and editor George Plimpton, who hosted the show.
It’s been said that listening to John Cage’s music is like chewing sand.” ~ George Plimpton
For more on the famous Cageian magic, don’t miss the recent gem Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists.
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