Keke Hunt (Just The Right Height): Live

ISSUE is pleased to present a final performance from 2023 ISSUE Artist-In-Residence Keke Hunt (Just The Right Height). Hunt’s live set builds upon the ongoing project with collaborator Ben Mendelewicz utilizing motion capture data recorded with choreographer Charlton Diaz, and 3D avatar backup dancers designed by Shahan Assadourian and Mendelewicz. Training and mentorship provided through the Harvestworks’ Technology Immersion Program (TIP) for artists was instrumental in developing the technical aspects of this presentation, as well as support generously provided by The Motion Capture Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. The presentation will premiere at MITU580 in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

Hunt’s Just The Right Height project combines blistering samples and algorithmically arranged fragments of existing song lyrics, in a vocal-based pop-electronic performance that speaks to the tension between the production of market-driven “pop products” and the universal power of pop music. Hunt develops short motifs utilizing recognizable era-specific stock drum samples that reference textures from Top 40 hits and dance music of the last 30 years. Using a standard verse-chorus format, she constructs songs where rhythms are dependent on the vocal cadence and phrasing, inverting the expectation that a vocal should follow the meter of its rhythmic backing. Coarse samples are triggered in real-time in correlation with a piercing deadpan delivery. Hunt's deconstructed lyrics teeter between a complete lack of syntax and salient moments of clarity where essential pop sentiments are distilled. Through these sonic and conceptual approaches, Hunt examines the reciprocal relationship between pop sonic and visual culture with society's own self-identity, in a poignant subversion of mainstream music.

Hunt’s residency is supported by Harvestworks’ TIP and is part of an ongoing program collaboration between ISSUE and Harvestworks, two organizations that are committed to supporting the creation and presentation of experimental performance practices while sharing resources.

Keke Hunt (b. Atlanta 1989) is musician and interdisciplinary artist whose work spans technology, tattooing, and fashion. Hunt has released numerous record and cassette editions, under the project name Just the Right Height while touring as a mainstay of the contemporary underground music scene. Hunt tattoos at an artist-run tattoo shop called Musiquarium. Her influential and idiosyncratic tattoo work is documented in her book Collectors’ Lament released by Paris-based press Numero Dix. Hunt recently exhibited 5 years of works on paper at Whaam! Gallery in Chinatown. Hunt is currently working on her third album I Love Everything to be released with HAORD records.