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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

The Festival of Sufi Arts grew out of a dhikr circle in Chicago. For those unfamiliar with dhikr, the word means "remembrance of God." Sufis around the world practice dhikr through devotional music, chanting, and whirling. Throughout history, many Sufis have also been poets, visual artists, and musicians. We realized this was true in our dhikr circle too. While not strictly devotional, much of the art we create is informed by our experiences as Sufis. The Festival of Sufi Arts emerged from the desire to share music, visual art, and poetry from Sufi artists with a broader community.