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September 7, 2005

musical cacti

a participating cactus from the installation's website, shown early in the experiment

on certain Saturdays the city of Long Beach does this great thing called ArtWalk, where whole streets are blocked off and people sell things like glass bead jewelry and funky oil paintings on mini canvases. art galleries are wide open and have big food tables with yummy cookies and hummus and interesting cheeses. the atmosphere is bright and warm and community and just fun. we like to stroll around, people watch, enjoy the live jazz, and generally be amused. oh yes, and of course eat the yummy cookies and interesting cheeses.

during this most recent one a few weeks ago, i stumbled upon a humble little installation art piece entitled "Mozart Effect Transplanted." four cute diminutive cacti, each with a ruler planted next to it, were lined up on the floor inside a bookstore, in front of the big storefront window. three were wearing headphones over their pots; the fourth, the "control," had none. coming through the headphones in a continuous loop, and apparently going into the soil, was various music pieces. one cactus was listening to Mozart's Sonata For Two Pianos in D, K448. the next was grooving to 50 Cent's "Just a Lil' Bit." and the third had a praise song, "Holy is the Lord" sung by worship leader Chris Tomlin blessing its little spines. the accompanying text explained:

Metaphorically (and certainly not scientifically), the test among the four cacti pits nature (the control plant) against the following forms of nurture: human aggression (50 Cent), Christian praise for God (Chris Tomlin), and science or mathematical accuracy (Mozart).

now, at this point, i fully expected the Mozart plant to be doing the best -- i mean, the so-called "Mozart effect" has been proven over & over. i was so wrong.
the control plant was the smallest in all ways: the shortest, and least healthy looking. probably it was just bored. the worship song plant was a little taller, but it was alarmingly skinny. the Mozart one was the brightest-colored, but it was no match for the enormousness of -- you guessed it -- the Fiddy Cent cactus. my gosh, that thing was flippin' huge. it was easily the fattest, tallest, most robust of the four. all that theorizing about classical music's splendid properties, and what i've seen firsthand concerning the healing power of worship was not working out with these little spiky green fellows. though vaguely disturbed, i had to laugh. the "I get it crunk in the club/ I'm off the chain" cactus looked positively menacing compared to the wee little "anthem of the Lord's renown" cactus. i thought of all the parents who make their tiny children watch that "Baby Mozart" series seeing this installation, going home and chucking out their videotapes & immediately programming their TiVo for "MTV Jams." it was funny that this simple experiment was clearly not turning out according to expectation.

so yesterday, when i decided to pick up a nice iced chai latte for myself, i realised the coffeeshop was across the street from the Cactus Bookstore (which is what i now call the place). i wandered over, and upon first glace, it appeared that the results i reported were still correct. Control Cactus was still very bored. Mozart Cactus was looking good, but wasn't the biggest. Gangsta Cactus was still ridiculously enormous. Worship Cactus was still the thinnest. i set my iced chai on the pavement and got down on my hands and knees for a closer look. oooh, the amusement!

sure, Gangsta Cactus might be the biggest, fattest, strongest-looking plant -- but at its base, there's a full 2 inches of grey rot. a big hole, which couldn't be seen from the inside of the store, is clearly visible when looking in the window from the outside. so sure, it wins for sheer size, but it's already started to die.
the skinny Worship Cactus doesn't look so anemic anymore. all the cacti have started to bloom by now with fiery red flowers, and the cactus with the most blossoms -- the most potential for fruit -- is the Holy is the Lord one.
and the prize for Overall Healthiest goes to Mozart Cactus -- it's not the biggest or the fruitiest, but it's the brightest-colored, strongest one.

so what does this prove? mmmmm, you can make that call -- this is, after all, art. scientifically, it proves absolutely nothing, but from an experiential and opinionated point of view, i'd say it proves that:
1. it's better to listen to something than nothing at all
2. you can find amusement in just about anything if you make the effort
3. cacti are really fun plants.

i do, however, think that if a lucky desert plant got to listen to local NPR affiliates KCRW or KPCC all day, it would quickly become the alpha cactus...

Posted by hadashi at September 7, 2005 10:58 PM

Comments

Posted by: Billy Somerville at September 15, 2005 8:31 AM

Posted by: hadashi at September 15, 2005 11:45 AM

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