John Cage (1921–1990)
A leading figure in the twentieth-century avant-garde, John Cage was a prolific composer, writer, and artist. His early works show Schoenberg’s influence in their use…
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Ablinger, Peter (1960--)
Peter Ablinger has arguably done more to challenge what we mean by “music” than any composer since John Cage. His works include Sehen und Hören…
Donatoni, Franco (1927–2000)
Composer and poet Franco Donatoni studied in Vienna before attending the Darmstadt summer music program, where he encountered Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen, among others.…
Black Mountain College
Between 1933 and 1957, Black Mountain College served as an unlikely crucible of modernism. Despite its isolated location near Asheville, North Carolina, at various times…
Futurism
Futurism emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century as a movement that explicitly conceptualized the process of literary and artistic experimentation as part of…
Tenney, James (1934–2006)
American composer James Tenney produced a wide range of innovative works, including computer music, Fluxus-inspired text scores, and chance-based instrumental pieces founded on the overtone…
Rauschenberg, Robert (1925–2008)
Robert Rauschenberg (Milton Ernest Rauschenberg) was an American artist who pioneered new approaches to art prototypical of the Pop Art movement and postmodernism. Born October…
Readymades
In 1916, the French artist Marcel Duchamp coined the term “readymade” to describe a body of his own work in which everyday and often mass-produced…
Johns, Jasper (1930– )
One of the most influential American artists of the late 20th century, Jasper Johns was born in Augusta, Georgia, in 1930 and grew up in…
Satie, Erik Alfred Leslie (1866–1925)
Erik Satie’s compositions, writings, and humor played an important role in many modernist movements of the twentieth century. Experimenting with simple forms, neoclassicism, mysticism, satire,…
Fischinger, Oskar (1900–1967)
Oskar Fischinger (b. 22 June 1900, Gelnhausen, Germany; d. 31 January, 1967, Los Angeles, US) was one of the most influential German abstract experimental animators and creators…
Cunningham, Merce (1919 – 2009)
One of the twentieth century’s most influential dancers and choreographers, Merce Cunningham re-defined the genre of modern dance. He began his professional career as a…
Pavia, Philip (1912–2005)
American sculptor and organizer of the New York art community, Philip Pavia sought to forge a group identity for the New York School. Pavia founded…
Paik, Nam June (1932–2006)
Nam June Paik was a Korean-born American artist who achieved international notoriety for his destructive, neo-dada activities and visionary, esthetic experiments with electronic media. Born…
Just Intonation
Just intonation is a system of tuning musical intervals based on simple ratios between the frequencies of their constituent pitches. For voices and most musical…
Russolo, Luigi (1885–1947)
Luigi Russolo (b. Portogruaro, 1885–1947) was a painter, inventor, and musician. He was an Italian Futurist who responded to Filippo Marinetti’s call to revolutionize art…
Yoga
The term ‘yoga’ refers to a heterogeneous matrix of philosophies and practices that originated in India and developed into a school of thought sometime between…
Miguel Aguilar Ahumada (1931--)
Miguel Aguilar Ahumada is a Chilean composer, academic, and musicologist. His value in the Chilean and Latin American musical panorama lies in his role as…
Mass Observation
Mass Observation was founded in 1937 by filmmaker Humphrey Jennings, poet Charles Madge, and ethnologist and explorer Tom Harrisson. It was originally conceived as a…
Brakhage, Stan (1933–2003)
Stan Brakhage (born Robert Sanders) was an American filmmaker and one of the most important figures of experimental cinema, noted for his abstract, lyrical style.…
Branca, Glenn (1948--)
Glenn Branca (b. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1948) is an American composer noted for his works for massed electric guitars. Branca began his compositional career in New…
Kaprow, Allan (1927–2006)
Allan Kaprow was an American artist whose oeuvre included painting, assemblage, and “environments.” He is best known as the originator of “happenings,” a term he…
Video Art
The term “video art” is used to describe art made using video technology. Not to be confused with experimental cinema or art film, video art…
Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, The
The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music (WarszawskaJesień) is one of Europe’s longest-running festivals of contemporary music. With two exceptions (1957 and 1982), the…
Serialism/Twelve-Tone Technique
Serialism or the twelve-tone technique is a way of composing music that involves replacing major and minor scales with a fixed ordering of the pitches…