Jitr จิตร: extended gong ensemble
September 23, 2023
I moderated a discussion following Jitr จิตร: extended gong ensemble, an audiovisual live code and collaborative sound making performance by elekhlekha with guest performers easterner, and Luisa Mei Bressan, which took place at CultureHub.
Jitr จิตร extended gong ensemble is a performance rooted in Southeast Asian Indigenous cultural practices and tuning systems with a MIDI network of gongs that connects the performers. As in traditional gong ensembles, the audience is invited to join the performance by making sounds with found objects, creating a communal, hybrid sound.
View documentation of the performance.
Photo by Dan Gorelick
The Longest Whistlegraph Ever (so far)
May 14, 2022
I commissioned The Longest Whistlegraph Ever (so far), a composition by the artist collective Whistlegraph, which debuted in New York as a live performance at the New Museum on May 14, 2022.
Whistlegraphs are audio-visual digital artworks performed manually by drawing and singing. Every whistlegraph results in a poetic image through the performance of a reproducible score.
Video of a subsequent performance, recorded in Ashland, Oregon, was published online alongside materials from the composition process, including manuscripts, recordings, and a full graphic score. In addition, I worked with Whistlegraph to develop and administer online workshops for children, where participants learned about computer software and art history while creating their own artistic compositions. Reflections and documentation from these workshops are viewable on Rhizome.
Alex Freundlich, Camille Klein, and Jeffrey Scudder draw, sing, and make videos together as Whistlegraph. Since forming the group in 2020, they regularly share their work on their TikTok account, @whistlegraph, where they have over two million followers. Over the past few years, they have honed a distinctive style and practice that speaks to embodied cognition, art education, and experimental composition for live performance.
Chavez / Hatakeyama / Park / Tamirisa
February 18, 2018
I organized a performance at bitforms gallery on February 18 featuring four artists who I greatly admire: Maria Chavez, Akiko Hatakeyama, Caroline Park, and Asha Tamirisa. Their sound-based practices span electroacoustic improvisation, audiovisual composition, and the construction of experimental controllers and software for performance.
