Mushroom Foraging with John Cage

The great American composer John Cage once wrote, “I have come to the conclusion that much can be learned about music by devoting oneself to the mushroom.”

He was an amateur mycologist throughout his life, and this summer, his writings about fungi will be re-released in a gorgeous collection, John Cage: A Mycological Foray.

Decades after the book was published in an enormous format, Atelier Éditions will bring out a reprint that readers can enjoy.

Atelier Éditions is a limited-edition publishing house that specializes in archival monographs, contemporary art books, and exploratory printed matter.

One section of the book is printed on environmental Cartamela paper, a product derived from the industrial waste of apple processing.

This section pays homage to Cage’s 1990 art series, Edible Drawings, illustrations created on paper that could be recycled as food.

Cage used mushrooms for food while living as a starving artist in Carmel during the Depression.

“I didn’t have anything to eat … So I picked one of the mushrooms and went in the public library and satisfied myself that it was not deadly, that it was edible, and I ate nothing else for a week.”

The great composer even brought his love of mushrooms and being an amateur mycologist to the university. Starting in 1959, he began teaching a course about mushrooms at the New School in New York City along with horticulturist, Guy Nearing.

An Artsy article described that delicious classroom experience:

The class, which included artists Alison Knowles and Dick Higgins , went on foraging expeditions, but only to woods accessible through the city’s public transportation system. Creating a positive out look on mycology and Cage as a mycologist himself. They held large dinners to consume their spoils, and their Annual Banquet even made it into the culinary pages of the New York Times.

Click here to continue reading the full article!

Originally published at https://fantasticfungi.com.