[sp332]

4'33 was like an MVP. (It wasn't exactly the first of its kind.) Artists had dealt with room noise before, but usually as a distraction instead of realizing that it's part of the experience of a piece.

As an artist, you could be more aware of the room noise as part of the performance of your work instead of getting in the way of it. As a patron, you could consciously choose a place that has noise to enhance your experience of a work.

[robocat]

Or do the opposite and listen to it in an anechoic chamber - which apparently is psychologi ally difficult to handle:

http://www.ted.com/conversations/14056/why_is_absolute_silen...