NIU Art Museum

The Northern Illinois University Art Museum presents Notations 21, March 29 - May 14, 2011.

The public is invited to the Opening Reception Thursday, March 31 from 4:30 – 6, and the concert that follows, Visual Music, featuring works by John Cage, Kyong Mee Choi, NIU’s Robert Fleisher, Paul Paccione, and Theresa Sauer, at 8:00 p.m. in the Music Building Recital Hall.  Notations 21 is an exhibition of contemporary, international, non-traditional music scores inspired by John Cage’s Notations (1968), and curated by New York composer Theresa Sauer, author of  Notations 21, an anthology of 165 composers’ visual music scores. 

Notations 21 is a celebration of innovations in graphic musical notation.   The composers/artists employ nontraditional symbols, paint, ink, photographic images and text  to turn musical scores into instruments of expression that graphically convey information about the meanings or performances of their pieces.  Through the musical scores in the exhibition, visitors can see the composers’ desire to introduce an appreciative aesthetic for both the aural and visual beauty of their creations.