Kandinsky -> Cage

15/11/2017

On the 11th of November, a large exhibition was opened in Reggio nell'Emilia, Italy. It’s a journey between the arts and music – from Wassily Kandinsky’s spiritual abstracts to John Cage’s enlightened silence.



Why “Kandinsky -> Cage”? Cage, the American composer, poet, and thinker, was an avant-garde musician. He unveiled unconventional opportunities of musical instruments, and was among the first to start using electronic sound. Many musical critics consider him one of the mightiest composers of the 20th century. His principles of “internal resonance” and the privileged art as a channel to broadcast universal concepts were to a large extent consonant with Kandinsky’s innovative ideas.

Music was always one of inspiring and even moulding factors for Kandinsky (who actually was always synesthetic). Its original “abstractedness” illuminated the artist’s path toward discovering new, artistic abstract.
Over 50 works by Kandinsky will be represented at the exhibition in Palazzo Magnani: paintings, watercolors, and graphic arts. Viewers will also see rare blottesques of Wagner, Brahms Fantasies by Klinger, works by Klee, Kandinsky’s associate at the Bauhaus, and an interesting collection of Russian Lubok (popular print).

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