Past Events

Pianist, Gianni Lenoci, and soprano-saxophonist, Gianni Mimmo, create an improvised performance with decades of experimental, solo and ensemble-based performances under their respective belts. New York-based composer, pianist and educator, Ramin Arjomand, presents new work.

Jo Andres and Steve Buscemi host ISSUE's first benefit event at our future home — the beautiful McKim, Mead, and White jewel box theater at 110 Livingston in Downtown Brooklyn — celebrating the 60th birthday of prolific composer and guitar virtuoso Elliott Sharp.

Elliott Sharp’s 60th birthday celebration continues with a collection of his long-time friends and collaborators performing his music at ISSUE’s space at the Old American Can Factory. Among Sharp’s works to be performed are Flexagons (Orchestra Carbon), Octal (Elliott Sharp solo) and Oligosono (Jenny Lin).

Composer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist Ben Vida premieres Piece for Difference Tones (interrupted) & (computer controlled) Analog Sound Objects. The work emphasizes the intersections between analog and digital sound synthesis systems, which produce what Vida calls “non-representational sound objects."

“Original Innocence” is a rock opera conceived by Dave Nuss and Eric Sanders. A traveling troupe of performers from a new religious sect and dramatically depict their theology in a tent-meeting style ‘passion play’ about the creation of the world.

The feminist reception and production of pornography has had a complicated and fascinating trajectory, a discourse of representation often bound by the logic of the male gaze. The Hole Picture brings together a selection of socio-sexual films and videos by artists Barbra Hammer, A.K. Burns and A.L. Steiner.

Described as abstract analogue pointillism, ambiance for spaceports, or hypnotic echochamber pulsebeat, Frank Bretschneider’s detailed music is echoed by his visuals: perfectly translated realizations of the qualities found in music within visual phenomena. Belgian sound and visual artist Yannick Franck joins.

Haunted House, comprised of avant-blues guitarist Loren Connors, Suzanne Langille, Andrew Burnes and Neel Murgai reunite after a 10 year hiatus for a special performance. Joined by Che Chen and Robbie Lee, stoner-rock/goth lullaby songwriter Sondra Sun-Odeon, and Helena Espvall (of Espers).

Esther Venrooy's works range from purely electronic composed music to improvised combinations of electronica with traditional instrumentation (piano, guqin, pipa and satsuma-biwa). Since 2006 she has created site-specific works, multimedia performances and installations. Joined by the anarchistic duo pygmy jerboa.

Irish composer Enda Bates' hexaphonic guitar is simply a standard electric guitar with a special pickup providing access to each individual string signal. This allows each string to be processed differently, and be routed to a different place in the room. This new work transforms his instrument sonically and spatially.

Chased around by the ghosts of a paved-over salt marsh and equipped with perverted botanists’ tools, voices of divination and herbal elixirs, explore the neighborhood of Gowanus on foot and onscreen. Gina Badger leads a field botany tour exploring the place of edible and medicinal weeds in ecologies of decolonization.

As part of The Sonic Unconscious, ISSUE presents two installations by Yolande Harris. Pink Noise uses sound recorded underwater. In Tropical Storm, sound and video recordings of a tropical storm evoke the multisensory experience of being immersed in a torrential downpour in a rainforest.