John Cage
Full of wonders: Takis at Tate Modern reviewed
Steel flowers bend in a ‘breeze’ generated by magnetic pendulums. This is the first thing you see as you enter…
The bias against digital music is more emotional than scientific
It’s an increasingly common lament that computers have ruined everything, and a longing for the days before Google and Twitter,…
Intelligent, poetic and profound: Tacita Dean at the National and National Portrait galleries
Andy Warhol would probably have been surprised to learn that his 1964 film ‘Empire’ had given rise to an entire…
The first half is essential – the second much less so: Tate's Robert Rauschenberg reviewed
Robert Rauschenberg, like Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale, was a ‘snapper-up of unconsidered trifles’. Unlike Shakespeare’s character, however, he made…
Why boredom is good for us
When did you last experience a boring Sunday afternoon? If you’re over 16, probably not since you were last 16…
The wayward deb and Warhol groupie who invented the selfie
It took a while for Brigid and I to get to know each other, not to mention like each other.…
Satie invented the cultural poison that is Muzak – why should he be celebrated?
After peaking at around the tenth instalment, birthday celebrations get progressively less interesting, for their subjects at least. I remember…
Could a change of body language make a difference to American policing?
One of the most shocking items of recent news has been the bald statistic that the number of people shot…
Was Bach really a ‘tasteless and chaotic composer’?
It’s just not what you expect to hear on Radio 3 but I happened upon Music Matters on Saturday morning…
Why plotting a sound map of London is impossible
It’s easy to tag the city’s terrain by writer. But what, wonders Philip Clark, might a map of its music look like?