Past Events

Van Alen Institute’s Spring 2014 Events launch at ISSUE with a fast-paced medley of music, poetry, personal reflections, conversations, and performances by designers, artists, musicians, writers, social scientists, and others exploring the meaning of well-being, and the effects of the city on our minds and bodies.

A unique presence in underground culture for the past twenty years, multidisciplinary artist Graham Lambkin makes a rare solo appearance to celebrate the opening of his solo exhibition at AVA. With support from Devin DiSanto, who explores presence in incidental sound and labor-oriented approaches to performance.

LOCATION CHANGED! ISSUE, The Wick & desertshore present Nazoronai in their first NY show. A recent collaboration of the legendary Keiji Haino, Stephen O’Malley and Oren Ambarchi, Nazoranai unites 3 extraordinary operators of doom, noise and power electronics. With support from Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe AKA Lichens.

Alvin Lucier’s "Criss Cross" opens Tectonics, performed by two pillars of experimental rock: Stephen O’Malley and Oren Ambarchi. The guitarists and ensemble play Iancu Dumitrescu and premiere a piece by Eyvind Kang. Crys Cole and Jessika Kenney play solo sets, Kenney and Kang play Giacinto Scelsi.

A panel on the late Harley Gaber’s life and works is moderated by composer Eric Richards, featuring guests Paul Paccione, Ned Sublette and Bill Hellerman.

The second day of Tectonics Festival turns attention to Harley Gaber. His monumental "The Winds Rise in the North", a pillar of American minimalism, is performed here by a quintet including extraordinary string players Conrad Harris, Pauline Kim, Esther Noh, Alex Waterman and Erin Wight.

Tectonics concludes highlighting works by Eric Richards, a little-known but influential avant-garde composer. Hildur Guðnadóttir, acclaimed cellist known for collaborations with múm and Pan Sonic, plays solo. Alvin Lucier plays two works with Jenny Lin, and Baritone Jeffrey Gavett plays Lucier, Scelsi and others.

For their first performance at ISSUE the Peter Evans Quintet debuts five new compositions by Evans including pieces dedicated to biologist Lynn Margulis and musician/composer Alice Coltrane, in addition to improvisatory platforms for the unique playing styles of the band members.

Part of Movement Research's "Fallow Time" Festival, "Prepared Field" is an evening that invites multiplicity in the sensory and self. Graze on performance, sculpture and film that bump up against the festival’s themes. Lily Gold, Macklin Kowal, Zavé Martohardjono, Honey McMoney & more perform.

Francisco López makes a rare NY appearance creating an immersive sonic experience in the dark, with multi-channel sound and blindfolded audience. Taylor Deupree and Stephen Vitiello, label-mates and collaborators, perform a unique duo featuring modular synthesizers, field recordings and guitar.

This evening showcases performers of the Vin Du Select Qualitite, or VDSQ label, an acoustic guitar LP series curated by Steve Lowenthal of Swingset Magazine and Plastic Records. Bill Orcutt, Glenn Jones, Mark McGuire, Matthew Mullane and Anthony Pasquarosa perform, celebrating new and forthcoming releases.

Composer William Basinski has been active for over three decades, creating a vast body of haunting and melancholic soundscapes that have secured his place as an icon of contemporary ambient music. Tonight he performs solo, returning to ISSUE with the New York premiere of his recent evening-length work "Cascade".