John Cage's ASLSP in Halberstadt

John Cage's ASLSP in Halberstadt

  • Art
  • Performing arts

One of the stranger artistic events on German soil is the currently running performance of John Cage's "Organ²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible)" in the St. Burchardi Cathedral. Cage, a famous queer composer who radically transformed compositional music with his avant-garde scores, penned the piece in 1985 with the instruction to play it "as slow as possible." A conference of musicians and philosophers chose to mount the longest performance of the piece here in Halberstadt, outfitting one of its small cathedrals with an organ designed to sustain a 639-year long recital. Though the reader, this website, and the world as we know it will likely all not exist in 2640 for the piece's conclusion, the traveler can visit any day to hear the current weight-induced tone and perhaps the next note change in 2020.

Am Kloster 1, Halberstadt, Germany