Tonight we will be celebrating Black Chicago house music at Elastic with a The.BlkRoom takeover! Sharing Resources for Black and Brown artist while enjoying late night house-vibes with TBRs Resident DJ DJ John West, with friends Yanna Lynette, and DJ Khali Melon. Come and enjoy food, great music, artist, resources, and performances by special guest!

Join us as we welcome back Matthew Daher’s project The Wisdom to Know the Difference with Chicago artist Sarah Lutkenhaus opening the night.

Celebrating the Black Diaspora, the.BlkRoom and Elastic Arts collaborate on a courtyard event featuring an Afro Puerto Rican Baile performance from Lauren Brooks and Los Medicos. This is followed by a late night showing of Black Orpheus presented by the blkfilmclub. The event will feature free food, art activations, and performances by Elastic Dark Matter Residents Udo and Xavi Burgos.

Janna Lee uses her voice to explore different facets of herself and exorcise uncomfortable emotions that can’t be put into words. Her solo work combines harsh noise drowning in reverb with haunting processed vocals that probe the dark recesses of a woman’s psyche. Molly Jones is a saxophonist from free jazz and Balkan brass traditions.  Her playing originates in a place of playfulness, listening, and attention.

Olbrzym i kurdupel,in Chicago from Poland, consist of two exquisite musicians: Tomek Gadecki (tenor and baritone saxophones) and Marcin Bożek (bass guitar). The music they play is simple, unrestrained, and uninhibited improvisation. They are joined by Danny Kamins, an improvising saxophonist based in Houston, TX.

8:30 pm: Janna Lee / Molly Jones duo
9:30 pm: Danny Kamins + Olbrzym i kurdupel

$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door

AfriClassical Futures is a quarterly music and conversation series that foregrounds the accomplishments of Black composers and musicians from the diaspora and beyond that are educated or working in, around, or influenced by Western Classical music and classical traditions more broadly.

On August 23rd, electronic music based label Lunt and Oglesby will be hosting their 11th annual Kit Swap. Kit Swap is a daytime event where soccer enthusiasts and electronic musicians come together to trade soccer jerseys and/or music gear. Got a soccer jersey that doesn't fit anymore? MIDI controllers or synths that have no use in your studio? Come through and make a trade. There will also be 11 live electronic acts, a FIFA station and custom upcycled jerseys for sale from Crossbar Syndicate.

FFFT returns for its second iteration of sound and movement collaborations for 2026 at Elastic Arts!

The Improvised Music Series welcomes saxophonist/electronicist/composer Jorrit Dijkstra from Boston. On this trip Dijkstra continues his longstanding musical relationship with Jeb Bishop and, following up on his January 2024 Chicago visit, performs again with Michael Zerang, while meeting Mabel Kwan for the first time.

Pleiades returns on August 19 with a duo set from pianist Mabel Kwan and interdisciplinary artist Selina Trepp. Kwan’s playing brings a quiet intensity and deep sensitivity to sound, while Trepp’s work explores improvisation, perception, ecology, and intuition. The evening also features a solo drums and electronics performance by Minneapolis-based Emma Garau, whose background in DIY punk, noise, free jazz, and experimental music informs her expansive approach to sound.

Relative Intensity Noise is BACK!

Immerse yourself in an encompassing otherworldly environment of artists performing simultaneously for the entire event. Experience Rin Peisert’s durational live art exhibition, Relative Intensity Noise, focusing on performance, action, and sound, on Saturday, August 15th from 8-10pm. The exhibition will feature physical endurance, interactive movement, spatialized audio, and a sculptural installation of found objects played as a massive and unwieldy percussion instrument.

August’s CLEAT features two trios, including an ensemble work from visiting composer Suzanne Thorpe, and a new work from Chicago based project Binary Stitches.

Join Elastic Arts for an immersive evening of music at the Oakland Museum & Garden. Dark Matter Resident Nova Zaii and Sam Thousand will open with a restorative sound bath, followed by a performance from the Micah Collier Trio featuring Sam Thousand. Free and open to the public, Friday, August 14, from 6–8 PM.

Ken Ueno presents an evening of solo performance. The program foregrounds Ueno’s extended vocal techniques, embodied movement practices, and exploration of resonance, breath, and physical gesture as compositional material. Combining improvisation, experimental sound, and person-specific approaches to performance, the event moves between intimate sonic textures and visceral physicality, creating a space where voice, body, and environment become deeply intertwined. We welcome Ken from Berkeley, CA.

Banana Acid is an improvising ensemble made up of Aaron Kaufman-Levine, Caroline Jesalva, Erez Dessel, Garrett Frees, and Tyler Wagner. Banana Acid is committed to the practice of spontaneous composition. Their unique sonic language synthesizes deep individual studies of various music traditions, including early jazz, free jazz, classical, electro-acoustic, and folk music.

8:30 pm: Ken Ueno
9:30 pm: BananaAcid

$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door

Tone Glow is excited to present "River of Stars," a two-program retrospective of works by Bruce Wood (b. 1951). Wood is a Massachusetts-based painter whose love for the avant-garde maestros Stan Brakhage and Robert Breer led to his own interest in filmmaking. He moved to Chicago in the 1970s so he could study under Brakhage, and soon thereafter had a short but prolific stretch of years constructing monochromatic works that both reduced and magnified images into dazzling portraits of light and rhythm.

We’re excited for this rare Monday show where we host travelling experimental americana duo Horses 4K, a duo take of local legends Desert Liminal, and a rare solo set from the amazing Sam Wagster.

Join us for a special activation of our current visual gallery exhibition “quiet as it’s kept” curated by Harlem West. Today will be another opportunity to see the work, but also experience live ‘sonic storytelling’ from Dark Matter Residency alumni Carissa Pickney along with curator Harlem West. Please join us! The event is free and open to the public.

Tone Glow is excited to present "I'll Walk With God," a screening of nine 16mm experimental short films that grapple with mortality and death. This event was curated by Kerry Laitala, an award-winning moving-image artist who uses analog, digital, and hybrid forms to investigate how media influences past and present culture through science, history, and technology. The event will feature five of her shorts made between 1997 and 2026, including a work-in-progress reel of her new film THE CAT LANDS ON ALL FOURS. The program will also feature works by artists who have influenced her: Gunvor Nelson, Chick Strand, Phil Solomon, and Scott Stark. With hand-processed filmic practices, mystifying collage work, and intimate depictions of family members, "I'll Walk With God" offers numerous avenues to consider life, film, and their outer limits.

An evening of collective exploration from two open-ended ensembles balancing alt-jazz groove and experimentation, lead by Juliann Wang and Matt Coglianese

We’re excited to welcome two solo electronic artists from Philadelphia, Morgan Garrett and Gloorp. Chicago artists Z Soniat and Rikki G. Godd open the evening.

Join us for the 1st public screening of The Good Curse of Bird Mummy Moon by Zack Sievers!

VASTLab brings VLX, its touring experimental film series, to Elastic Arts with 11 short films from 9 countries and a live score from Chicago duo Nireus.

Join us for a free family-friendly event celebrating the history of hip-hop at Unity Park in Logan Square! The early Friday evening event will feature performances by Chicago’s own Zion I, Dialect Tre, Kuumba Lynx, Emcee School, and more. Music by DJ Double8. Plus, face painting, dance tutorials, chalk art, trivia, games, prizes, giveaways, refreshments, and community participation. Attendees also learn about Chicago’s rich Hip-Hop history and how they can be part of such an influential creative arts community. This event is FREE! Join us this Friday!

Jim Baker, Steve Hunt, and Jakob Heinemann’s music moves between electroacoustic dialogues involving Baker’s ARP-2600 and free jazz-derived piano trio excursions.

Keefe Jackson Quartet features Jeb Bishop, Jason Roebke, and Quin Kirchner, with pieces by Keefe Jackson. Brent Burton of JazzTimes comments, "These guys do what seems to come naturally to Chicago-based outfits: They make freedom sound friendly.”

8:30 pm: Baker / Hunt / Heinemann
9:30 pm: Keefe Jackson Quartet

$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door

An assemblage of sonic vignettes sculpted from digital electronics, live improvisation, and studio manipulation, percussionist Lesley Mok presents a solo set where the music feels like a passage through affective zones—like a slow deliberate walk through a museum where its unknown sensorium unfolds itself to you.

Joining the bill will be a solo project from Chicago ex-pat percussionist Matt Carroll titled SloGlo. Opening the night will be Ishamel Ali performing new compositions with ensemble Ed Wilkerson Jr. and Bill Harris.

We welcome Sam Wenc from NYC with a packed night

Chicago's most dynamic audio/visual series, Night School, presents an evening of experimental video and music for the first time here at Elastic Arts. Video artists are paired with improvising musicians, with each musician live-scoring the video for the first time. There are no aesthetic hierarchies at Night School, each show is about spontaneity and openness, you never know what you'll see and you won't believe what you hear!

Join us for the first of two Elastro series events this week, featuring Los Angeles musician Cate Kennan, Infrathin (Whitney Johnson + Lula Asplund), and Cleared (Michael Vallera + Steven Hess).

The air quality was a bit too harsh in Chicago for this show to go on outside as intended, so we’re happy to take on this wonderful night of music featuring road warrior folk hero Frank Hurricane. We’ll have sets from Chris Coleslaw Music Trio (ft. Jake Acosta + Mallory Linehan), Jessica Risker playing solo, and Timelife! Music will kick off a bit after 8pm.

Avreeayl Ra’s Dream Stuff is Avreeayl Ra (drums), Edward Wilkerson (reeds), Peter Maunu (strings), Jim Baker (keyboards), and Jason Roebke (bass). Dream Stuff exemplifies Spontaneous Composition and Arrangement.

Dream Stuff will perform two sets at 8:30 and 9:30.

$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door

Tone Glow is excited to present Perceptual Ambiguity, a two-part screening highlighting four works on 16mm by Pat O’Neill (b. 1939). O’Neill is an American artist and pioneering figure in LA’s experimental film scene. As a teenager, he became enamored with the mechanic and pinstriper Von Dutch, eventually becoming involved with car culture himself through building automobiles.