Beethoven's Trumpet (with Ear) by John Baldessari is on view in Paris through January 29, 2017. The work is included in Ludwig Van: The Beethoven Myth at the Philharmonie de Paris.
Beethoven’s life and legacy have become phenomenons that reach well beyond the realm of high culture. The Ludwig van exhibition reproduces his fascinating aura of popularity, which rivals that of political icons and rock stars… From Gustav Klimt to Joseph Beuys, André Gide to Michael Haneke, Edward Burne-Jones to Antoine Bourdelle, John Baldessari, Stanley Kubrick and Pierre Henry, the ghost of Beethoven has continued to haunt artists and fulfil its purpose: to electrify the eye, the ear and the mind. (Philharmonie de Paris)
News
Sound: An Acoulogical Treatise
John Baldessari's Ear Trumpet appears on the cover of the new English translation of Michael Chion's Sound: An Acoulogical Treatise (Duke University Press Books).
First published in French in 1998, revised in 2010, and appearing here in English for the first time, Michel Chion's Sound addresses the philosophical, interpretive, and practical questions that inform our encounters with sound. Chion considers how cultural institutions privilege some sounds above others and how spurious distinctions between noise and sound guide the ways we hear and value certain sounds. He critiques the tenacious tendency to understand sounds in relation to their sources and advocates "acousmatic" listening—listening without visual access to a sound’s cause—to disentangle ourselves from auditory habits and prejudices. Yet sound can no more be reduced to mere perceptual phenomena than encapsulated in the sciences of acoustics and physiology. As Chion reminds us and explores in depth, a wide range of linguistic, sensory, cultural, institutional, and media- and technologically-specific factors interact with and shape sonic experiences. Interrogating these interactions, Chion stimulates us to think about how we might open our ears to new sounds, become more nuanced and informed listeners, and more fully understand the links between how we hear and what we do. (Amazon)
The Art of Music
The Art of Music is open at the San Diego Museum of Art and features John Baldessari's Ear Trumpet. See the exhibition through February 7, 2016 in Balboa Park - just 5 miles from Baldessari's home town of National City, CA.
John Baldessari at Crystal Bridges
This just in: Beethoven's Trumpet (with Ear) by John Baldessari is on view at the Crystal Bridges Museum of Modern Art. The work is part of the museum's permanent collection, and was included in the inaugural exhibition, Wonder World (2011-2012).
A Brief History of John Baldessari
Click the image for video
LACMA produced this fantastic video to honor John Baldessari and Clint Eastwood at their 2011 Art + Film gala. At 400,000+ views and climbing, this short has to be one of the most entertaining artist profiles we've ever seen. An Ear Trumpet poster is visible behind Baldessari's desk, beginning at 0'11".