John Cage in Saxony-Anhalt: The long view

For 639 years, a single John Cage composition is meant to unfold inside a church in Halberstadt. The performance began 25 years ago and is scheduled to end in 2640, a project of patience and hope in unsettled times.

Many people initially dismissed the idea. Why stretch a half-hour piece across centuries when there were supposedly more urgent concerns? The organizers of the John Cage organ project were not deterred. On the evening of September 5, 2001, they began the performance of “Organ²/ASLSP” in the otherwise empty St. Burchardi Church.

The composition begins with a rest, so the organizers initially switched on only the blower. The audience listened in amazement to a faint, delicate rushing sound. For 17 months, the turbine continued to blow without producing a single note. The explanation was that the organ was breathing in preparation for the centuries ahead.

The project has since become a symbol of endurance. Its organizers now face the question of how to secure the performance far into the future, as climate change, conflicts and funding create risks. The long-running work continues to ask what can be preserved when its intended conclusion lies generations away.