COSMOPOLIS: 49 WALTZES FOR THE WORLD
49 Waltzes is an award-winning video installation series shot in cities around the world.
In 1977, at the invitation of Rolling Stone magazine, American avant-garde composer John Cage celebrated the sounds of New York City with a graphic music score that invited the listener to experience the specific flavor of randomly selected places in his cherished city. Using the I Ching, with the help of his associate, Andrew Culver, Cage selected 147 locations from all five boroughs and organized them in sets of three. He then drew lines to connect the 3 locations in each set. These sets became “49 waltzes” – 49 triangles with each point creating one of the three beats of the waltz. Cage encouraged the listener or recorder to go to the apex of each angle and listen to or record the sounds of the city in that location – thus creating a complex composition unique to the city and the listener’s individual experience. This activity was realized on video in 1995-1998, by Roberta Friedman, Don Gillespie and Gene Caprioglio, and was recently released on DVD by Mode Records.
Cage suggested that the same piece be transcribed for other cities in the world and the filmmakers chose Beijing as the subject of the second iteration of 49 Waltzes because of Cage’s passionate interest in Chinese culture, as well as Beijing’s status as New York’s sister city. Staying true to Cage’s commitment to randomness, they performed the same operations with a map of the “old city” of Beijing (seen on the smaller monitor). Using an I Ching computer program written by Andrew Culver, 147 locations were selected at random andvideotaped with a rotating tripod head in the summer of 2007, a year before the Olympic games.
The filmmakers shot at each of the locations inside the Second Ring Road; some were familiar places like the Forbidden City and Tian’amen Square, but most were places that tourists rarely visit: parks, playgrounds and hutongs.
The waltzes are numbered from 1 – 49 in chinese numerals and come up in random order according to a computer program engineered by Isaac Dimitrovsky.
ROBERTA FRIEDMAN is a filmmaker and video artist whose work has been shown widely in the United States and Europe in venues including The Guggenheim Museum , The Whitney, MOMA, and the Pompidou Centre. Her experimental films have been selected to be preserved by the American Academy of Film in Los Angeles. She is currently a full-time professor in the film program of the Art & Design Dept at Montclair State University..
DAN LOEWENTHAL is an experienced filmmaker, editor and photographer who has traveled extensively worldwide. His film work, taken him to Cambodia, China, Africa, Indonesia, Europe, the Caribbean, and most recently, Egypt. Presently, Mr. Loewenthal divides his time between teaching editing at Montclair State University, and working on his own media projects.
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CREDITS
Software Engineer: Isaac Dimitrovsky
Map Graphics: Andrew Matusik
I Ching program : Andrew Culver
Assistant to the producer: Elisabeth Friedman
In Beijing:
Driver/translator: Mr. Wong
Host: Barry Friedman
This presentation was made possible with the support of:
BLACK MARIA INC.
Foundation for Contemporary Arts
MODE RECORDS
Map, courtesy of Falk Corp.
Betty and Saul Adelson * Regina Cornwell* Marilyn & Eli Dzen
Joanne B. Erde *Betty and Anthony Forma * Barry Friedman *Sheldon Friedman
Alice and Ira Gross * Jem Jender * Janis Lipzin * Ben Mendelson *Norma Passy
Laura Peskin *Mark Ratner * Steve Reich * Sara Roszak * Rayanne School
Denise Yourman* Durinda Wood