Photo of the two books contained within the packaging: A MYCOLOGICAL FORAY printed with a full-bleed cover photo of John Cage foraging in black and white printed on green paper, and MUSHROOM BOOK, a plain green envelope labled only with its title.
Front cover of paper case for JOHN CAGE: A MYCOLOGICAL FORAY displaying simple bold text of the title and "VARIATIONS ON MUSHROOMS" on a plain green paper background with a pleasant texture.
Back cover of paper case for JOHN CAGE: A MYCOLOGICAL FORAY describing the contents of the package in large black text on a plain green paper background with a pleasant texture.
Photo of an inside page of A MYCOLOGICAL FORAY featuring a two page spread photograph of John Cage and company having a meal on a hillside next to a rustic-looking stone structure.
Inside photograph of the MUSHROOM BOOK folder showing many loose pages with writing and sketches sprawled across them.
Photo of the two books contained within the packaging: A MYCOLOGICAL FORAY printed with a full-bleed cover photo of John Cage foraging in black and white printed on green paper, and MUSHROOM BOOK, a plain green envelope labled only with its title.
Front cover of paper case for JOHN CAGE: A MYCOLOGICAL FORAY displaying simple bold text of the title and "VARIATIONS ON MUSHROOMS" on a plain green paper background with a pleasant texture.
Back cover of paper case for JOHN CAGE: A MYCOLOGICAL FORAY describing the contents of the package in large black text on a plain green paper background with a pleasant texture.
Photo of an inside page of A MYCOLOGICAL FORAY featuring a two page spread photograph of John Cage and company having a meal on a hillside next to a rustic-looking stone structure.
Inside photograph of the MUSHROOM BOOK folder showing many loose pages with writing and sketches sprawled across them.
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John Cage: A Mycological Foray

$60.00

John Cage: A Mycological Foray: Variations on Mushrooms

 

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.