Tuesday, October 28th at 8pm, ISSUE Project Room welcomes sound artists, composers, and educators Dani Dobkin and Amir ElSaffar to present new solo work for the Serge Modular synthesizer. This event follows ISSUE’s celebration of the Serge Modular synthesizer’s 50th anniversary in 2023, and the limited engagement with Thomas Ankersmit this past summer at Columbia University’s Computer Music Center. After the completion of 2025 residencies at the NYU Integrated Design & Media audio lab, Dobkin and ElSaffar (with special guest, R. Luke DuBois) perform at ISSUE’s home theater with one of the most powerful and versatile electronic instruments of the analog era.
Dobkin, who recently took part in the 50th anniversary celebration of the Serge, has continued to take the synthesizer as “a wonderful mentor.” The artist has since released a live recorded album in 2024 titled Old Dutch Church with guitarist and collaborator, Matt Sargent.
After ElSaffar’s last performance at ISSUE in 2016, the renowned Iraqi-American trumpeter has released two albums in 2024 (Live at the Boulez Saal and Inner Spaces) as well as founded the Maqam Studio, a performance and workshop space in Brooklyn. This, along with Maqam Records have a mission of preserving and fostering innovation of Iraqi and Middle Eastern Maqam music.
ISSUE Members can RSVP to this event for free using their unique code at checkout, and enjoy exclusive access to all limited-capacity events.
Dani Dobkin is a sound artist, composer, and educator based in New York City, Their work explores sound through modular synthesis, ceramics, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Their artistic practice often delves into themes of grief, decay, and ephemerality, creating immersive sonic environments that emphasize physical, kinetic, and auditory experiences. They work extensively with handmade instruments, live electronic improvisation, and sound installations. As an artist and composer, their work has been showcased at a variety of venues and galleries including ISSUE Project Room (NYC), Dimenna Center for the Arts (NYC), The Clay Studio (Philadelphia), Spectrum (NYC), Fridman Gallery (NYC), The Red Room (Baltimore, MD), The Wallach Gallery (NYC), The Rubin Museum (NYC), Public Records (NYC), Chronos Art Center (Shanghai), NextSunday (Tokyo), The Corcoran (D.C), Constellation (Chicago, IL), and Little Berlin (Philadelphia). Past and recent collaborators include Yarn/Wire, International Contemporary Ensemble, CT::SWaM, Qubit and Women in Sound. Dobkin received a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Music Composition (2024) and an MFA in Sound Art (2017), both from Columbia University. They are currently serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Electronic Music at Bard College and an Instructor in the Collaborative Arts/ Open Arts program at NYU.
R. Luke DuBois creates music, art, software, and circuits, not necessarily in that order. His artwork explores the temporal, verbal, and visual structures of cultural and personal ephemera, using data-driven techniques to investigate time, memory, identity, and the meaning of portraiture in the United States in the 21st Century. He is the co-chair of the department of Technology, Culture, and Society and research director of the programs in Integrated Design & Media at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, and a founding co-director of the NYU Ability Project. His research focuses on integrative systems for media and technology equity, ranging from open source software projects for signal processing and speech to telepresent communication systems for motion capture to citizen science for noise pollution to design for disability. His work has received support from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He is on the Board of Directors at ISSUE Project Room, Eyebeam, and Tech Kids Unlimited.
Described as “the celebrated trumpeter and composer who explores vital connections between jazz and Arabic music” (New York Times), Amir ElSaffar is an Iraqi-American composer, trumpeter, santur player, vocalist, and modular synthesist working at the intersections of jazz, Western classical, and Maqam music of Iraq and the Middle East. He is best known for his pioneering work combining jazz and Maqam, mainly through his Two Rivers sextet and 17-piece Rivers of Sound Orchestra. As a jazz trumpeter, he has performed in the ensembles of Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Anthony Davis, Danilo Perez, William Parker, and Vijay Iyer, among others. He is also a renowned Iraqi santur player fluent in the millennia old and nearly extinct Iraqi Maqam, and is musical director for the last living vocalist of the genre, Hamid Al-Saadi. As a composer, ElSaffar has created works for symphony orchestras, string quartets, chamber ensembles, jazz ensembles, Middle Eastern music ensembles, as well as hybrid projects with Raga, Flamenco, and Sub-Saharan African trance music. His works have been commissioned and performed in major festivals and venues around the world. His recent work with analog modular synthesizers is a continuation of his exploration of sonic palettes that question and go beyond cultural boundaries.
