Event calendar

Elastro Series: Henna Chou + Alison Wilder, Liv Mershon, Mallory Qiu
Mar
29

Elastro Series: Henna Chou + Alison Wilder, Liv Mershon, Mallory Qiu

March’s Elastro Series bring artists Henna Chou and Alison Wilder in from Texas, then solo sets from Liv Mershon (of nunn + Who is the Witness?) and Mallory Qiu on the 16 channel CLEAT System. Qiu presents Venus, Moon, and Whispers on the Road East, a poetic journey through live synth and piano improvisations, spoken word readings, accompanied by mesmerizing video projections. The piece invites audience to explore themes of love, loss, and liberations, creating a spellbinding fusion of sight and sound that”Qiu presents Venus, Moon, and Whispers on the Road East, a poetic journey through live synth and piano improvisations, spoken word readings, accompanied by mesmerizing video projections. The piece invites audience to explore themes of love, loss, and liberations, creating a spellbinding fusion of sight and sound that transcends physical boundaries. In this solo performance, Mershon combines her current explorations into noise with the song-writing of her recent past and home videos from her youth. Inspired by the psychedelic experience of aging, Mershon combines these nostalgic and emergent practices in an attempt to witness her own changing but static self. More info TBA

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Asian Improv aRts Midwest: Nireus, Tatsu Aoki / Jim Baker Duo
Mar
30

Asian Improv aRts Midwest: Nireus, Tatsu Aoki / Jim Baker Duo

At our second event of March with our friends at Asian Improv aRts Midwest the organization is presenting two duo sets. First up will be an acoustic duet from longtime friends and collaborators Tatsu Aoki and Jim Baker. These two have been stalwarts of the Chicago creative music community for decades through numerous ensembles, solo work, and organizing. Headlining the evening will be Nireus, an electronic new music duo including violinist Clara Takarabe and composer / synthesist / multi-instrumentalist H. Anton Riehl. Their broad musical style is influenced by their shared history in classical music, with deep ties to electronic and experimental music. You can hear influences from Palestrina to Shostakovich, Penderecki to Tan Dun, or the music of the medieval Andalusia running through their cinematic expressions. It’ll be a great night. Join us! Music at 8:30pm

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Improvised Music Series: Lao Dan Chicago Quartet  *2 Sets*
Apr
4

Improvised Music Series: Lao Dan Chicago Quartet *2 Sets*

At this week’s Improvised Music Series we welcome Lao Dan in from Hangzhou, China to perform two sets with a Chicago-based quartet. The band will feature Mabel Kwan on piano, Joshua Abrams on bass, and Michael Zerang on drums. Instead of pursuing the conventional career path as a professional conservatory flutist inside the “system”, after leaving SYCM, Lao Dan became an independent musician. With his unique understanding of the woodwind instruments through two decades of playing, Lao Dan sticks to his own vision and approach to the Chinese flute and its sounds. We can’t wait to hear two sets from this quartet! Music at 8:30pm

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Queer Dance Freakout: Spring Fling!
Apr
5

Queer Dance Freakout: Spring Fling!

Queer Dance Freakout is an interactive choose-your-own-adventure-spectacle, inspired by the Neo-Futurists Infinite Wrench. Our company is composed of queer, trans, and/or nonbinary artists & storytellers, who perform an array of devised performance art pieces. We aim to have audiences booty shaking, grooving, and connecting with the larger queer community.

Each of our original pieces are around 4 minutes in length, and the audience queues the order of these pieces from our “playlist” by verbally calling out the next piece they want to see. Queer Dance Freakout is ever changing; every piece and performance the company writes and choreographs is created from our own life experiences! No Freakout performance is the same as we devise new work every season (and repeat some of

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Towards Racial Healing Through Multicultural Drumming w/ Rahul Sharma
Apr
6

Towards Racial Healing Through Multicultural Drumming w/ Rahul Sharma

Elastic Arts, in partnership with Funkadesi and Strategic Inclusion Consulting, through a generous #HealingIllinois grant, is hosting this FREE experiential 3-hour workshop in Spring 2024. Led by Dr. Rahul Sharma & The Rhythm Ambassadors of Funkadesi, it combines multicultural drumming, self-reflection, & facilitated dialogue. The goals are to deepen self-awareness on racism’s impact, experience the joy of inclusion, and commit to collective action. No musical talented required. Registration is open!

Participants in this workshop and/or the Storytelling & Spoken Word workshop (April 13) will have FREE admission to a Celebratory Concert & Drum Circle on May 11, featuring Funkadesi & more. Also, stay tuned for a pop-up community celebration in late May/ mid-June!

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Freedom From and Freedom To
Apr
6

Freedom From and Freedom To

FFFT returns for its first iteration of sound and movement collaborations for 2024! Freedom From and Freedom To is an exploration and celebration of artistic circumstance. Movement and sound improvisors from all around Chicago gather in front of a live audience, where they are grouped by chance. Each group performs an improvised set. We fuse diverse artistic backgrounds and practices to create unique and fleeting worlds. There will be a headlining set from Kiku Hibino + Keisha Janae.

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Queer Dance Freakout: Spring Fling (Early + Late Shows!)
Apr
7

Queer Dance Freakout: Spring Fling (Early + Late Shows!)

EARLY SHOW at 3PM + LATE SHOW at 7PM

Queer Dance Freakout is an interactive choose-your-own-adventure-spectacle, inspired by the Neo-Futurists Infinite Wrench. Our company is composed of queer, trans, and/or nonbinary artists & storytellers, who perform an array of devised performance art pieces. We aim to have audiences booty shaking, grooving, and connecting with the larger queer community.

Each of our original pieces are around 4 minutes in length, and the audience queues the order of these pieces from our “playlist” by verbally calling out the next piece they want to see. Queer Dance Freakout is ever changing; every piece and performance the company writes and choreographs is created from our own life experiences! No Freakout performance is the same as we devise new work every season (and repeat some of our favorites). We can't wait to freakout with you!

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CLEAT Series: Regina Martinez / AJ McClenon, Carissa Lee, Christophe Preissing
Apr
12

CLEAT Series: Regina Martinez / AJ McClenon, Carissa Lee, Christophe Preissing

April’s CLEAT Series will present three sets from artists all close to the Elastic community. Dark Matter 2023 resident Carissa Lee will offer up their first performance on the CLEAT system where we’ll hear her use of field recordings, writing, Black southern culture (that includes medical histories, stories, music etc.) and voice to materialize emotions of grief, and isolation. Old friends and collaborators Regina Martinez and AJ McClenon work together on the CLEAT to present voice recordings, electronics, and abstract tape music textures. The artists parse through voice memos sent over the past five years. "How can the sonics of a friendship be pieced together through disembodied communication that's full of laughter, full of sighs and what we ate today? How have we held space for each other in between the pauses, in between the aparts while listening to the same weather?” Christophe Preissing will present Deconstructivism I: Plume, his first foray into combining cut up texts, phonemic deconstruction, and vocal tics, materials often left on the cutting room floor with recordings made inside a piano and detritus from various other projects. The CLEAT Series focuses on work composed for the 16-channel speaker system in our space, allowing audiences to experience different approaches to spatial audio.

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Shake Shook Shaken: TIDE W/ Ivan Pyzow + Julie Meckler
Apr
13

Shake Shook Shaken: TIDE W/ Ivan Pyzow + Julie Meckler

Shake Shook Shaken is a monthly theater/movement workshop series produced by Julie Meckler. The series is designed for people to gently bring body awareness, allowing participants to open up, explore outside of their comfort zone, bond with each other, create and show.

Shake Shook Shaken is a dream of what a safe space could allow. A vision of a place for everybody to gather, look at each other, play and create in a non judgmental, trauma-informed way. It’s an invitation, a journey within and out, a surprise. Each workshop is unique. This month we’ll have Ivan Pyzow and Julie leading on the topic of TIDE

No prior dance or acting experience is necessary, just willingness to move and exhale. This workshop series is for anyone and everyone.

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Towards Healing from Racism Through Storytelling & Spoken Word: Identity, Belonging, & Sharing w/ Emily Lansana
Apr
13

Towards Healing from Racism Through Storytelling & Spoken Word: Identity, Belonging, & Sharing w/ Emily Lansana

Today’s Storytelling & Spoken Word workshop will be led by Emily Hooper Lansana and Dr. Rahul Sharma, and will provide participants with activities to share in both written and verbal form. In this session we will share, listen and reflect on stories . We will reflect on our personal experiences and collective memories. We will consider how our unique, racial and cultural identities are disparate and connected. Much of who we are is grounded in the multiple stories that inform our perspective and outlook. Registration is live.

Participants in this workshop and/or the Multicultural Drumming workshops (Apr. 6 or Apr. 20) will have FREE admission to a Celebratory Concert & Drum Circle on May 11, featuring Funkadesi & more.

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Flex Obscura: Opening Night!
Apr
19

Flex Obscura: Opening Night!

Join us for an evening of community, film and conversation as we unveil a new film series and festival called Flex Obscura!

Flex Obscura Series & Festival celebrates the breadth of creative modes of visual expression and film.  We love weird and things that live in the in-between spaces.  The event is structured to allow for expansive play across a season of visual, sonic and film exploration. We curate 4 events that offer audiences an unique experience, each with a particular focus in collaboration with Elastic Arts’ existing programming.  Our passion is to celebrate new voices and new vocabulary in visual and sonic forms that are expansive and experimental with a focus on fostering inclusivity and promoting emerging talent. Flex Obscura Series and Festival embraces a wide range of genres, styles, and perspectives. It acts as a catalyst for change, inspiring a new generation of filmmakers to challenge conventional norms and push the boundaries of storytelling. From each series emerges juried and audience choice winners who are invited to a culminating festival event showcase and highlighting the best of the series. 

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Towards Racial Healing Through Multicultural Drumming w/ Rahul Sharma
Apr
20

Towards Racial Healing Through Multicultural Drumming w/ Rahul Sharma

Elastic Arts, in partnership with Funkadesi and Strategic Inclusion Consulting, through a generous #HealingIllinois grant, is hosting this FREE experiential 3-hour workshop in Spring 2024. Led by Dr. Rahul Sharma & The Rhythm Ambassadors of Funkadesi, it combines multicultural drumming, self-reflection, & facilitated dialogue. The goals are to deepen self-awareness on racism’s impact, experience the joy of inclusion, and commit to collective action. No musical talented required. Registration is open!

Participants in this workshop and/or the Storytelling & Spoken Word workshop (April 13) will have FREE admission to a Celebratory Concert & Drum Circle on May 11, featuring Funkadesi & more. Also, stay tuned for a pop-up community celebration in late May/ mid-June!

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FPE Records  presents: Bass Dreams minus B
Apr
27

FPE Records presents: Bass Dreams minus B

Too many wrestlers to love, too many wrestlers to love to hate, and tons of great bassists to listen to .. and why not do the second installment for the Bass Dreams minus B. FPE has allowed me to dig into the other side of my musical life once and once again Bass Dreams minus B: OYAJI ROCK was inspired by all my favorite bassists and wrestlers --Tatsu Aoki Tatsu Aoki's super badass real cats jammed out some true trips this time around. Tiger Tanaka and Rami Atassi are unhinged on electric guitar, eating boundaries for breakfast and lunching on cosmic interconnectedness. All of it quantum interaction, particles at arbitrary distances, precision interpenetrations, flow states bouncing, excited, one mind. Rumback hitting drums to catch the jams, pushing on an impulse drive, everyone chasing the fire.

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Elastic Arts 6th Annual Benefit
May
18

Elastic Arts 6th Annual Benefit

Save the date for the 6th Annual Elastic Arts Benefit on Saturday May 18th!  We need your support to remain a sustainable space for creative music, art, and performance. The event will highlight many of the things that make Elastic Arts what it is, but most importantly we will celebrate togetherness. This year we recognize the achievements of Marvin Tate with the Elastic Arts Achievement Award. We’ll have performances throughout the night, delicious catered food and drink, silent auction, a raffle, interactive experiences, and so much more. Stay tuned for more information and tickets.

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Dark Matter Residency: “For The Record” - Jarius ‘Man of God’ King Residency Capstone
Mar
27

Dark Matter Residency: “For The Record” - Jarius ‘Man of God’ King Residency Capstone

Dark Matter Resident Jarius “Man of God” King returns for his culminating presentation of the developing work For The Record at Elastic Arts.

For The Record is a multifaceted project that explores Afro-Sino relations and identities through art, documentation, and examination of Jarius’ personal experience as a Black man and artist dealing with global anti-Blackness.

 Utilizing the marking traditions of Chinese calligraphy and U.S. graffiti, he seeks the shared spaces between these distinct artistic realms. In addition, he weaves in the movements from martial arts and Black dance forms (Street Dance), forging connections that challenge cultural barriers.

This evening’s iteration is an artistic experience of storytelling, visual art, movement, battling, partying, and music.


Collaborators for this evening include AMS/DJ VADER, Tre Daniels/DJ Salem, and Jasmine

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Homeroom Residency: Spectralina w/ Chér Jey + Mabel Kwan
Mar
26

Homeroom Residency: Spectralina w/ Chér Jey + Mabel Kwan

Every Tuesday in March, Homeroom Residency presents SPECTRALINA: The audio-visual performance project of Dan Bitney and Selina Trepp. There will be special guests that join Spectralina for four multidisciplinary performances. Working in an improvised format, Spectralina creates an image-sound relationship that treats each medium equally, resulting in performances in which projection and sounds come together as visual music. In Spectralina, Dan uses a computer, synthesizers, drums, voice, and analog processors to create sounds. Selina sings, animates, and plays the videolah, an instrument that creates real-time animated projections. At the fourth and final night of their residency they’ll be joined by Chér Jey and Mabel Kwan. Doors at 8pm!

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Dark Matter Residency: “hers is mine” - Carissa Lee + Muso Residency Capstone
Mar
23

Dark Matter Residency: “hers is mine” - Carissa Lee + Muso Residency Capstone

Dark Matter Residency artists Carissa Lee and Muso have been with us this last year consistently bringing incredible work to our orbit. Each of them have such a dynamic and multifaceted practice that it’s been such an honor to experience. Their Residency is coming to a close, but we can’t wait to follow along with their journey for years to come.

Muso and Carissa are collaborating for their Dark Matter Residency capstone performance, inspired by earth shaking femme strength, rage, despair, survival, blood and soil. Both these artists worked with memories collected in Zambia, The United Kingdom and the United states to develop sounds and songs that speak to their Black femme experiences. Hers Is Mine is an exploration of femininity through geography, space, time, generations and family ties. The show includes music, poetry, spatialized sound collage on the 16-channel CLEAT system, and performative actions that chronicle the wounds accrued while on the ancient path to ‘womaness’. At times Indie, at times psychedelic, Hers is Mine is a place where screaming and laughter hold hands as sisters, where joy and sorrow dance together in the dark. You do not want to miss this.

Collaborators for the evening include Paige Brown on piano, Torstein Johansen on bass, Naydja Bruton on drums, and Jaden Esi on guitar.

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Pleiades Series: Jessica Ackerley - Solo and Trio w/ Mai Sugimoto + Tim Daisy
Mar
22

Pleiades Series: Jessica Ackerley - Solo and Trio w/ Mai Sugimoto + Tim Daisy

This March the Pleiades Series is excited to welcome prolific guitarist Jessica Ackerley to Chicago for their first visit in a long while. Now based in Honolulu, HI working as a professor, the guitarist’s work is influenced by Black American Music and avant-garde improvisers, as well as the culture of the thriving New York City rock and noise scenes where they spent a decade before their current locale. Tonight we’ll hear a solo performance from Jessica followed by a trio with Chicago’s equally prolific saxophonist Mai Sugimoto and drummer Tim Daisy. We’re really excited to hear this trio! After the planned sets we’ll return to the classic Pleiades Open Jam where any/all femme/trans/nonbinary artists are invited to bring an instrument and get in on some improvisations with Jessica / Mai / other attendees. You can sign up for the jam at pleiades@elasticarts.org or at the door when you arrive. Any jam participants are offered free admission to the show!

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Homeroom Residency: Spectralina w/ Amalea Tshilds + Lia Kohl
Mar
19

Homeroom Residency: Spectralina w/ Amalea Tshilds + Lia Kohl

Every Tuesday in March, Homeroom Residency presents SPECTRALINA: The audio-visual performance project of Dan Bitney and Selina Trepp. There will be special guests that join Spectralina for four multidisciplinary performances. Working in an improvised format, Spectralina creates an image-sound relationship that treats each medium equally, resulting in performances in which projection and sounds come together as visual music. In Spectralina, Dan uses a computer, synthesizers, drums, voice, and analog processors to create sounds. Selina sings, animates, and plays the videolah, an instrument that creates real-time animated projections. At the third night of their residency they’ll be joined by Amalea Tshilds and Lia Kohl. Doors at 8pm!

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CLEAT Series: Michael Schumacher, Derek Rogers, Stephan Moore
Mar
17

CLEAT Series: Michael Schumacher, Derek Rogers, Stephan Moore

The CLEAT Series focuses on work composed for the 16-channel speaker system in our space, allowing audiences to experience different approaches to spatial audio. For this special second CLEAT Series event of March, we welcome back two alumni of the series. NYC-based artist Michael Schumacher will present a set of multichannel pieces called "Stills", from a series of that explores the idea of auditory scene analysis within an immersive sound environment. Texas-based Derek Rogers is back with his exploration of electronic composition, drone, free-improv, ambient, and noise textures. We’ll have the CLEAT system operator / CLEAT Series curator Stephan Moore presenting new work to open the night. Join us!

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Dark Matter Series: Alysha Monique and the Family Divine, Nubian Traxx (DJ)
Mar
16

Dark Matter Series: Alysha Monique and the Family Divine, Nubian Traxx (DJ)

We’re back for our second Dark Matter Series event of the year! Tonight we have transcendent rising vocalist Alysha Monique performing with her ensemble The Family Divine, and featuring powerhouse DJ Nubian Traxx on the 1s and 2s.

Alysha Monique’s musical presence has taken off in recent years, participating in such series as Tuesdays on the Terrace at MCA and gracing City Winery with Bobby Wonderfull in their “Ella & Louis reimagined” tribute show ft. pianist Jahari Stampley. Alysha and ensemble have an infectious energy with delicious sound and broad range, with sets that take the audience from the yearnings of a tender ballad all the way back down to the floor with undisputed funk.

Throughout the night we’ll have selections from composer, producer and DJ Nubian Traxx, committed to highlighting the Black roots of EDM, and creating a space for unity as the sounds move us to dance together in gratitude and harmony.

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Shake Shook Shaken: Sound Suits You w/ Devin Ulery + Julie Meckler
Mar
16

Shake Shook Shaken: Sound Suits You w/ Devin Ulery + Julie Meckler

Shake Shook Shaken is a monthly theater/movement workshop series produced by Julie Meckler. The series is designed for people to gently bring body awareness, allowing participants to open up, explore outside of their comfort zone, bond with each other, create and show.

Shake Shook Shaken is a dream of what a safe space could allow. A vision of a place for everybody to gather, look at each other, play and create in a non judgmental, trauma-informed way. It’s an invitation, a journey within and out, a surprise. Each workshop is unique. This month we’ll have Devin Ulery and Julie leading on the topic title Sound Suits You.

No prior dance or acting experience is necessary, just willingness to move and exhale. This workshop series is for anyone and everyone.

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Anaïs Maviel w/ Ernest Dawkins, Ben LaMar Gay, Cristal Sabbagh, olula negre, BSA gold, Adam Zanolini
Mar
15

Anaïs Maviel w/ Ernest Dawkins, Ben LaMar Gay, Cristal Sabbagh, olula negre, BSA gold, Adam Zanolini

We’re thrilled to host NYC-based vocalist/composer Anaïs Maviel to Elastic Arts for a night of solo and ensemble improvisations. Maviel's work focuses on the function of art to address relation, and the power of sound to shape reality. Connecting intimacy and subconscious narratives with collective and large-scale principles, Anaïs navigates song, choral, instrumental music and staging, connecting cosmologies of sound rooted in oral traditions.

For her Chicago debut, she'll offer a glimpse on her compositional process with non-linear song-writing and structured improvisation, accompanying her voice with piano. She will be joined by Chicago's own special guests Ernest Dawkins (saxophone), olula negre (cello), Ben Lamar Gay (cornet & electronics), BSA Gold (flue/synth), Adam Zanolini (bass) and Cristal Sabbagh (dance) in various combinations.

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Improvised Music Series: CRAG, David Lord
Mar
14

Improvised Music Series: CRAG, David Lord

This Thursday, the Improvised Music Series presents out-of-town explorations from David Lord and CRAG. David Lord, recently relocated to Kansas from Montreal, presents new solo music for guitar, following up on the release of his third volume of Forest Standards on Astral Spirits last year. CRAG explores the outer limits of electroacoustic instrumentation with an all-star grouping of Utah and Californian improvisers.

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Homeroom Residency: Spectralina w/ Norman Long, Ayako Kato, Jason Roebke
Mar
12

Homeroom Residency: Spectralina w/ Norman Long, Ayako Kato, Jason Roebke

Every Tuesday in March, Homeroom Residency presents SPECTRALINA: The audio-visual performance project of Dan Bitney and Selina Trepp.There will be special guests that join Spectralina for four multidisciplinary performances. Working in an improvised format, Spectralina creates an image-sound relationship that treats each medium equally, resulting in performances in which projection and sounds come together as visual music. In Spectralina, Dan uses a computer, synthesizers, drums, voice, and analog processors to create sounds. Selina sings, animates, and plays the videolah, an instrument that creates real-time animated projections. At the second night of their residency they’ll be joined by Norman Long, Ayako Kato, and Jason Roebke. Doors at 8pm!

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Asian Improv aRts Midwest Presents: Jon Monteverde/ Duncan Reilly/Clint Bergi
Mar
9

Asian Improv aRts Midwest Presents: Jon Monteverde/ Duncan Reilly/Clint Bergi

Our friends at Asian Improv aRts Midwest presents two shows with us here in March! First we have a trio from Jon Monteverde, Duncan Reilly, and Clint Bergi. This trio meets up for a freely improvised performance drawing from their shared experience in the rock band Boundary Waters, as well as a variety of approaches from their other projects. Don’t miss it! Music at 8:30pm.

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CLEAT Series: Big Pal w/ Emily Craver, Paul Hertz and Christopher Walczak 'Campos | Temporales'
Mar
8

CLEAT Series: Big Pal w/ Emily Craver, Paul Hertz and Christopher Walczak 'Campos | Temporales'

The CLEAT Series focuses on work composed for the 16-channel speaker system in our space, allowing audiences to experience different approaches to spatial audio. This month we’ll have a performance from Big Pal with Emily Craver and the piece Campos|Temporales from Paul Hertz and Christopher Walczak. Experimental pop trio Big Pal is presenting High Energy News Music with choreography by dancer Emily Craver. It is a non-heroic sci-fi world-building exercise that teeters along the borders separating work and play, excitement and mania. The music was written Big Pal (Doug Barber, Patrick Glennon, Chrystine Rayburn), movement performed by Sarah Bodony, Emily Craver, and Sophia Smith, and media contributions by Yıldız Güventürk, Emily Pacilio, and Gavin Price. Campos | Temporales was developed as a large scale architectural video installation for 150 Media Stream, a curated video exhibition space in the lobby of 150 Riverside Plaza in Chicago. As an intermedia collaboration between digital visual artist Paul Hertz and composer Christopher Walczak, the animation is generated by transforming audio signals into pixel values and writing them to a space-filling curve, typically a Hilbert Curve. The curve visits every pixel in an image in a symmetrical labyrinthine pattern. We can’t wait to hear and see what both groups havre to offer on the 16 channel CLEAT system! We’ll kick things off at 8pm.

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Improvised Music Series: Kwan/Beisel/Harris + Akasha
Mar
7

Improvised Music Series: Kwan/Beisel/Harris + Akasha

This evening features two trios comprising consistent staples of the Chicago improvised music scene

One features Mabel Kwan on piano, Emily Beisel on bass clarinet and woodwinds, and Bill Harris on drums and percussion. Although all three have worked together in various and different configurations in the past, this new group is focused on giving space and breath, and exploring the similarities or contradictions in timbres and sounds between the instruments.

The other, Xris Espinoza on saxophone and percussion, Adam Zanolini on upright bass, and Avreeayl Ra on drum set.

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Ex Pat, Suicide Moi, DJ Fading, Trou
Mar
6

Ex Pat, Suicide Moi, DJ Fading, Trou

Elastic’s beloved friend, show producer, and CLEAT curator Sam Clapp has put together a super fun and eclectic show for this March Wednesday. We’ll have Buffalo NY based singer-songwriter Patrick Weil in town performing a solo set as Ex Pat. We’ll also hear from Suicide Moi, a collaborative art and music project by artists Julian Flavin, Isabelle Frances McGuire, and Liz Vitlin. Their forthcoming debut album “Anastasia” is set to be released in 2024. Then there will be a set from Trou, which is the duo of Julian Van Der Moere and Sara McCall. Throughout the night we’ll have DJ Fading providing the sonic vibes. It’ll be a super fun night with lots of friends and revelry. We’ll have DJ Fading kick it off at 7:30pm. Come hang!

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Homeroom Residency: Spectralina w/ Ben LaMar Gay + Frederick Wells
Mar
5

Homeroom Residency: Spectralina w/ Ben LaMar Gay + Frederick Wells

Every Tuesday in March, Homeroom Residency presents SPECTRALINA: The audio-visual performance project of Dan Bitney and Selina Trepp.There will be special guests that join Spectralina for four multidisciplinary performances. Working in an improvised format, Spectralina creates an image-sound relationship that treats each medium equally, resulting in performances in which projection and sounds come together as visual music. In Spectralina, Dan uses a computer, synthesizers, drums, voice, and analog processors to create sounds. Selina sings, animates, and plays the videolah, an instrument that creates real-time animated projections. At the first night of their residency they’ll be joined by Ben LaMar Gay and Frederick Wells. Doors at 8pm!

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WNUR's Sonic Celluloid: Kim Alpert / Chris Corsano Duo, Fetter, Killer Drones w/ Clark Woods
Mar
1

WNUR's Sonic Celluloid: Kim Alpert / Chris Corsano Duo, Fetter, Killer Drones w/ Clark Woods

We’re back with another Sonic Celluloid at Elastic Arts, an annual event put on by Northwestern University’s WNUR radio program The Rock Show. The event highlights artists exploring the experimental and psychedelic sides of audio and video art. Each performance tonight will push sonic boundaries and incorporate deep visuals from the vast spectrum of live video. Opening the night will be prolific artist Kim Alpert and legendary drummer Chris Corsano in duo. Following the duo we’ll see a set from Fetter, the moniker for multimedia artist Jess Tucker. Closing the night we’ll hear from local heavy psych space rockers Killer Drones. We can’t wait for this full night of audio visual delight. Join us!

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Improvised Music Series: Labratio / Lee / Sowa / Willis , Tyler Damon + Jacob Fawcett Duo
Feb
29

Improvised Music Series: Labratio / Lee / Sowa / Willis , Tyler Damon + Jacob Fawcett Duo

The Improvised Music Series welcomes Labratio / Lee / Sowa / Willis plus Tyler Damon + Jacob Fawcett duo.

Janna Lee is a Chicago-based vocalist who uses her voice to explore various parts of herself, ranging from ghostly lounge singer to raging demon and everything in between. Her work is an intensely personal maelstrom of harsh noise and processed vocals. Labratio is an alto saxophonist, composer, and improvisor who draws on his love of skronky free jazz, no-wave energy, and Eastern European musical traditions. Erik Sowa is a drummer/percussionist/multi-instrumentalist, and Ben Willis plays bass, incorporating a language of motion into his practice.

They will be joined by double-percussion duo Tyler Damon + Jacob Fawcett. Jacob Little Cloud Fawcett (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe) is a Chicago based drummer and composer who blends aspects of jazz and traditional Native American music in order to create original compositions that accurately reflect Indigenous culture and experience. Tyler Damon is a drummer, improviser and educator from the American Midwest. While tirelessly nurturing his solo voice, he has also been recognized internationally for collaborations past and present, appearing alongside several noted peers of the American underground including Dave Rempis, Tashi Dorji, Gerrit Hatcher, Joshua Abrams, Mars Williams, and Eli Winter, among many others. Both Fawcett and Damon were privileged to have studied with legendary drummer and educator Pete Magadini, whose influence has been a catalyst in the formation of their duo.

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Dark Matter Residency: Jarius King 'For the Record'
Feb
27

Dark Matter Residency: Jarius King 'For the Record'

We’re very excited to see what Dark Matter Resident Jarius King has in store for his residency capstone! We’ll have a work-in-progress showing this evening and then a full event one month later on Wednesday March 27th. The work is called ‘For the Record’ and is a multifaceted project that explores Afro-Sino relations and identities through art, documentation, and examination of his personal experience as a Black man dealing with global anti-Blackness.
 Both events start at 8pm.

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Elastro Series: Shannon Hayden, Kezia Dorsey Swann/ Invisible God-sip, Hymns for Inanna
Feb
23

Elastro Series: Shannon Hayden, Kezia Dorsey Swann/ Invisible God-sip, Hymns for Inanna

We’ve got an incredible night planned for our February Elastro Series. Shannon Hayden is visiting Chicago with her ethereal cello and electronics based compositions. The music is drifting and concise simultaneously with a flowing layer of beautiful vocals atop. She’s known to stretch into more experimental realms, as well as accompanying folk and classical ensembles, so we really don’t know what we’ll get this evening. Preceding Shannon’s set we’ll have a return performance from Kezia Dorsey Swann who defines themself as a ‘Multidisciplinary Griot Artist and Director, having been influenced by multiple artistic disciplines’. Their work weaves through ritual, performance art, sculpture, gospel singing, electronic music, dance, and visual art. We can’t wait to see what they bring to Elastic for this evening. Opening the night is Chris Moore’s project Hymns for Inanna. Often associated with his prolific woodwind work, in this project Chris concentrates on a dreamy compositional approach for Wurlitzer and electronics. This whole night will be beautiful and we hope you’ll join us.

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Improvised Music Series: Drawler + Macie Stewart/Ben LaMar Gay Duo
Feb
22

Improvised Music Series: Drawler + Macie Stewart/Ben LaMar Gay Duo

This week we have pedal steel led ensemble Drawler performing at the Improvised Music Series. Drawler is a pedal steel led project by Jordan Martins with elements of free improvisation, country ish melodies and note bending, and a healthy amount of minimalist/hypnotic patterns. Collaborators in this ensemble include Quin Kirchner, Matt Ulery, Peter Maunu, Macie Stewart and others. For this performance Martins will be joined by Quin Kirchner on drums and more TBA.

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Dark Matter Residency: Sharon Udoh - 'Songs for Someone Loyal'
Feb
21

Dark Matter Residency: Sharon Udoh - 'Songs for Someone Loyal'

We’re near the end of our 2023/2024 Dark Matter Residency, so it’s time to see/hear from our resident’s who have been working on various projects throughout their year here at Elastic Arts. One resident who has clearly been working nonstop is Sharon Udoh. It has been such a pleasure to have Sharon in our immediate orbit all year. Not only as a brilliant artist in a period of rapid growth, but as a close friend to our Elastic community.

Sharon’'s residency capstone performance ‘Songs For Someone Loyal’, is an emotional and musical evening-length show dedicated to her relationships with three people: first, her dad, a Nigerian immigrant whose deportation forced her to reckon with her identity as a Black American; second, her chosen ancestor, Nina Simone (who was born on February 21, in 1933!), whose life eerily echoes Udoh's, whose music became a balm throughout the last 10 years or so of American living;  and third, herself, a gay ass first-generation Nigerian-American woman-ish who has attempted to make sense of the way she loses, yearns, and loves.

Tonight we’ll hear different iterations of Sharon’s practice: Sharon solo piano/voice, accompanied by strings, piano duets, with dancer Fabulous Freddie, and in a punk rock trio setting. Let’s celebrate Sharon’s residency here at Elastic Arts and the obviously bright and prolific year ahead.

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Dark Matter Series: Oui Ennui, Azieb, Panty (DJ)
Feb
17

Dark Matter Series: Oui Ennui, Azieb, Panty (DJ)

At our first Dark Matter Series of 2024 we welcome back some series alums who have graced our stage in the past, but are bringing fresh new sounds and sights for our hearts and minds to ingest. Headlining we’ll hear from the prolific Oui Ennui who most often uses synths, electronics, and voice to create unique compositions for every outing. We’ve seen Oui perform quite a bit, always with something brand new and fully out there. Preceding Oui we’ll hear a set from midwest native Azieb in an ensemble presenting her new songs. She constantly pushes her sound forward, fusing genres like trance, hip-hop, soul, r&b, and classical with a down-to-earth message meant to heal. Throughout the night we’ll have selections from Dark Matter Resident PANTY on the DJ decks! This is going to be an incredibly fun Saturday night, so don’t miss it!

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Pleiades Series: Gilt Drip, Squonk
Feb
16

Pleiades Series: Gilt Drip, Squonk

At our February edition of Pleaides Series we’ll host two sets from Gilt Drip and Squonk. Gilt Drip is a Black Queer trip-hop synth duo based in Chicago. They use grimy and ethereal production juxtaposed with smooth energetic vocals to create a trip hop sound with sad boi vibes. Using lyrical aesthetics of water, dreams, and navigating the ever transforming landscape of human relationships, the group weaves soundscapes to dance and fall toward introspection. Squonk is a duo of Nicky Alonso and Hedra Rowan! With its unique blend of electronic beats, captivating melodies, and thought-provoking lyrics, Squonk transcends genres and touches the core of human experience. Whether you're in need of a cathartic release or simply want to lose yourself in the rhythm, Squonk will leave a lasting imprint on your soul and remind you of the power of music to connect us all.

No jam this month.

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Improvised Music Series: Long/Jackson Duo, Infinite Perspectives
Feb
15

Improvised Music Series: Long/Jackson Duo, Infinite Perspectives

At this Thursday’s Improvised Music Series we’ll have a duo from Norman Long and Keefe Jackson along with a project from Michael Hudson-Casanova called Infinite Perspectives. This will be the second meeting of Norman and Keefe here at Elastic Arts where they explore electronics and woodwinds. Long has been digging into fragmented modular beats with Keefe swirling above with textures, patterns, and occasional melodic movements.

Infinite Perspectives is a multidisciplinary group made up of improvising musicians and dancers. The musical trio of Michael Hudson-Casanova, Andy Danstrom, and Andrew Sudhibhasilp have explored their trio sound at Chicago venues like Fulton Street Collective and California Clipper. Sarah Rot, a dance/movement therapist, leads the visual component of this project as choreographer and mover.

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Ritual Rhythms: Love is Lovefest
Feb
10

Ritual Rhythms: Love is Lovefest

Ritual Rhythms Chicago's third annual Love is Lovefest is back at Elastic Arts in Logan Square!

Join us on Saturday, February 10, the weekend before Valentine's Day, for our annual celebration of all things related to love, highlighting queer performers! This year's show has a stunning array of dancers, musicians, vendors, and artists, with the kind of entertainment you've come to expect at Love is Lovefest! We have a night of live music, burlesque, bellydance, flow arts and more! Featuring the music of Kăi Zhi Hundred accompanied by dance sensation Dawn Xiana Moon, and a showcase with Drake Von Trapp, Venus Vesuvius, Lucid Dreams, and Freak Sinatra, live art by Robinlee Garber and an opening blessing by Stephanie Rae! Plus our open drum jam and a variety of fantastic vendors for the Valentine's season, including tarot readers, healers, artwork, jewelry and clothing, and delicious empanadas!

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Shake Shook Shaken: Tide w/ Ivan Pyzow + julie meckler
Feb
10

Shake Shook Shaken: Tide w/ Ivan Pyzow + julie meckler

Shake Shook Shaken is a monthly theater/movement workshop series produced by Julie Meckler. The series is designed for people to gently bring body awareness, allowing participants to open up, explore outside of their comfort zone, bond with each other, create and show.

Shake Shook Shaken is a dream of what a safe space could allow. A vision of a place for everybody to gather, look at each other, play and create in a non judgmental, trauma-informed way. It’s an invitation, a journey within and out, a surprise. Each workshop is unique. This month we’ll have Ivan Pyzow + Julie leading on the topic TIDE.

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CLEAT Series: Todd Mattei, Chris Mercer / Ben Roidl-Ward Duo, Daniel Wyche
Feb
9

CLEAT Series: Todd Mattei, Chris Mercer / Ben Roidl-Ward Duo, Daniel Wyche

The CLEAT Series focuses on work composed for the 16-channel speaker system in our space, allowing audiences to experience different approaches to spatial audio. This month we’ll hear a solo set from Todd Mattei, a first time duo of Chris Mercer and Ben Roidl-Ward, and an opening set from Elastic’s own Daniel Wyche. Mattei is a musician, animator, and artist. His most recent musical release is Hold You is available from Felix Onyx Records. His multiplicity of a creative life has included: touring and recording extensively with bands (Joan of Arc, Male, Sharks & Seals), collaborating with dance and movement artists (most consistently Victoria Bradford), screening at film festivals like Chicago Underground Film Festival and Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, and exhibiting video on walls at gallery spaces such as Carrie Secrist and Regards, Chicago. Chris Mercer (cello, electronics) and Ben Roidl-Ward (bassoon, electronics) began work on a duo project in 2018. Using live processing through MAX/MSP, their pieces develop methods of navigating complex interrelationships between acoustic instruments and live electronics that obscure direct correlations between performed material, resultant action, and heard sound. While controls are present through a variety of interfaces, the feasibility of such control is clouded by the interdependence of disparate sonic parameters within the patches. Wyche is a Chicago-based guitarist, composer, and improviser. Working with a wide range of physical preparations, extended techniques, and pedal instruments, his solo recordings and live performances are characterized by long-form structured improvisations and multichannel guitar. His most recent solo record, Earthwork, was released on American Dreams Records in 2021. Tonight he’ll be presenting excerpts from Earthwork reconfigured for 16 channels.

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