Zaj was an

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

group formed in 1959 in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

by composers and intermedia artists Walter Marchetti and Juan Hidalgo, with the support of the American composer

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

. The group received major contributions by different artists from the Spanish avant-garde scene, notably from the writer and diplomat José Luis Castillejo and from the interdisciplinary artist

Esther Ferrer Esther Ferrer (born 1937 in San Sebastián, Spain) is a Spanish performance artist. Ferrer received Spain's National Award for Plastic Arts (1999), the Marie-Claire Prize for Contemporary Art in France, and the Velázquez Plastic Arts Prize. ...

. During the 1960s, members of Zaj took part in different

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers, and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental performance art, art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finishe ...

events organised by

George Maciunas George Maciunas (; ; November 8, 1931 Kaunas – May 9, 1978 Boston, Massachusetts) was a Lithuanian American artist, art historian, and art organizer who was the founding member and central coordinator of Fluxus, an international community of ...

. With the help of John Cage and his agent

Mimi Johnson Mimi Johnson is a New York City-based arts administrator. Through her nonprofit organization Performing Artservices, Inc. (founded in 1972), Johnson assists, promotes, and presents artists working in the fields of contemporary music, theater, and ...

, Zaj also toured in the United States in the late 1970s. The group officially disbanded in 1993.

Sources

* Barber, Llorenç, ''Juan Hidalgo'', Ritmo. Vol. 566, 1986, pp. 112–13, * Charles, Daniel, Performance (art et esthétique), Encyclopedia Universalis, France * Hidalgo, Juan (w. John Cage, Morton Feldman, Leopoldo La Rosa, Walter Marchetti), Rumoriallarotonda, CD booklet (32 pages), ALGA MARGHEN, ITALY, ALGA 031CD, 1998 * La Motte-Haber, Helga de, ''Die Gruppe Zaj: Cage-Rezeption in romanischen Ländern'' (Grupo Zaj: Cage reception in Romance countries), Positionen: Beiträge zur Neuen Musik. no. 21, pp. 32–33. Nov 1994, * Leyva Sanjuan, Antonio, ''Zaj: A conversation with Juan Hidalgo'', Crónica. Vol. 3, no. 42, 1991, pp. 32–33, * Medina Álvarez, Ángel, ''Primeras oleadas de vanguardistas en el área de Madrid'' (The first waves of the avant-garde in the Madrid area), in López-Calo, José (ed.), Spain in Western Music, Madrid, Spain: Ministerio de Cultura, 1987. 403, 504 pp * Sarmiento, José Antonio, ''Críticas a un concierto Zaj'' (Reviews of a concert by Zaj), Cuenca, Spain: Ediciones + 491, 1991

External links

Archivio Conz - Jose Luis CastilejoArchivio Conz-Juan HilgadoArchivio Conz- Walter MarchettiSite of Juan HidalgoInterview with Walter Marchetti in Mute Magazine
and André Éric Létourneau - Website of the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

Interview with Esther Ferrer (in French)
in Esse Magazine Italian artist groups and collectives Musical groups established in 1959 Italian contemporary artists 1959 establishments in Italy Musical groups from Milan {{Italy-band-stub

See also

Sources

External links