Petrov, V. O. John Cage’s Actionism: Main Forms and Specifi cs of Implementation

Abstract: The subject under review is actionism as a phenomenon of post-modernistic culture and actionism in the heritage of an American composer John Cage. The author of the article describes the main forms of musical actionism including happening, instrumental theatre as a form of performance and multimedia. It is noted that actionism should be understood as a creative act that forms a new type of perception not typical for the previous ‘classical’ process of perceiving a piece of music. The new type of music perception was created in the middle of the 20th century and was caused by the desire of many composers to achieve the synthesis of arts. The article is based on the analytical method of analyzing the main forms of musical actionism. The researcher tries to draw our attention at peculiar properties of actionism in creative work of a particular composer. This is the first comprehensive research of Cage’s musical actionism in Russian art studies. The researcher proves that Cage’s synthesizing ideas combined with the principle of indeterminism is the central shapegenerating feature of Cage’s actions that mostly denies famous principles of musical art. According to the researcher, Cage’s actionism is an expression of his own inner world elated to Buddhism and the concept of the synthesis of arts rather than a challenge or an example of his deliberate epatage.

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