"I forthwith cloister her, still damp with the humours of the hatching, under a wiregauze belljar. For the rest, I cherish no particular plans. I incarcerate her from mere habit, the habit of the observer always on the lookout for what may happen."
— Quoted from "The Great Peacock Moth" by J. Henri Fabre, Etymologist, 1912
ABIGAIL HOBBS is a cypher. As the manifestation of an alter, she becomes witness-catalyst, victim-accomplice, surrogate-specter. Adopting the old newsreel/serial/feature film format and staged in the meeting house-like setting of the Sunview Luncheonette, ABIGAIL HOBBS explores subjugation and its remedy, from Salem Village to the Port Haven Psychiatric Facility, through live multichannel sound improvisation, projection, historical reenactment, and more. In a space between the meta-ceremonial and a YouTube truther pastiche exists a conjectural ABIGAIL HOBBS, a Monarch/Epsilon anti-heroine avatar, begging the question, who's will is it anyway?
A "newsreel" unique to these performances for ISSUE is a special tribute to the infamous Boleskine House, destroyed by the Fire of Alban Arthan this past December. ABIGAIL HOBBS is L.GRAY, Michael J. Schumacher, Stefan Tcherepnin, and Nisi Jacobs.
Capacity is limited. A $5 RSVP commitment is asked to ensure seating.
Organized by Lawrence Kumpf.
Michael J. Schumacher is a composer based in Brooklyn who’s focus is the relationship between the act of listening and architectural space, how particular spaces suggest particular modes of listening, and how these inform the compositional or improvisational process.
Stefan Tcherepnin is a Brooklyn-based composer and artist.
Nisi Jacobs has a BFA in painting from The Cooper Union and plays bass, keys and percussion in Michael Schumacher's band diNMachine. She also creates live video performance for the band and co-curates events, most recently the Nervous Magic Lantern Festival 2016 with analog projections by Ken Jacobs and 12 noise/experimental/rock bands over three days at Anthology Film Archives.
Keith Connolly is a New York-based artist born in Brooklyn. Under the alias L. GRAY, Connolly has performed solo and with a range of collaborators including Tom Thayer, Chie Mukai and others. In 1992, he dropped out of SUNY Buffalo, abandoning studies in English literature to form No-Neck Blues Band with Jason Meagher and Pat Murano. For over 20 years NNCK explored simultaneity through improvised performance and encrypted documentation, performed extensively throughout the US, Canada and Europe, and published more than 50 LPs, CDs and singles. He has appeared in theatrical productions by the Wooster Group, and is a member of the New York City Players. As an organizer, he runs the label HALATERN, etc., and co-created the Numina Lente performance festival with Jay Sanders in 2011. He is a contributing music editor for BOMB magazine.
