The Influence of Poincaré’s Thoughts on the Origins of Random and Chance in Works of Marcel Duchamp and John Cage

Chance is a broad concept which has become an important factor in linking science and art in the twentieth century. Simultaneously, concept emerged as a new scientific paradigm in Arts by Henry Poincar eacute; and especially Marcel Duchamp, who has affected many artists such as John Cage, one of aleatoric music pioneers .This paper investigates the differences and similarities of the chance concept in the art of Duchamp and Cage and Poincar eacute; rsquo;s effects on them, that in this regard, employs a descriptive method and relies on library resources. Results show that the viewpoint of Cage and Duchamp is the same in the indifference aesthetics, the provisional and the conventional nature, the importance of audience rsquo;s perceptual spaces ,and the nonexistence of real infinity which is the result of the influence of the Poincar eacute; rsquo;s thoughts on both of them and is interpreted as lsquo;systemic chance rsquo; or lsquo;absolute chance. rsquo; Their difference also lies on Duchamp rsquo;s scientific origins (Poincar eacute; rsquo;s thoughts) and Cage rsquo;s spiritual origins )Zen Buddhism). Hence ,the influence of Poincar eacute; rsquo;s thoughts on Cage can be divided into two periods :before Duchamp rsquo;s death (Chaos theory, Topology, NonEuclidean geometry, and Ndimensional spaces )and after that( eclipse Poincar eacute; rsquo;s Thoughts with Zen, Praj ntilde;a, and Satori, )which ultimately ends up solving Poincar eacute; thought in Zen.