In Pursuit of Silence

When avant-garde composer, John Cage, entered a sealed vacuum chamber in Boston, he waited a moment before noticing two sounds: one high and one low. He left the chamber to tell the technician of the malfunction and the technician said, “The higher sound is your nervous system, the lower sound is blood circulating through your veins.” It was then Cage realized that every living entity is connected through sound. Patrick Shen’s IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE utilizes archival footage of Cage to achieve a waking-dream meditation on what silence means, both when we choose to be silent and when we choose to immerse ourselves in silence. Shen compiles interviews with monastic scholars, a sound technician at Denali National Park, and a hitchhiker who has taken a vow of silence. This documentary will enlighten your understanding of the psychological opposition between sound and silence and provide a roadmap for more therapeutic hearing. –C.P.