ISSUE Project Room, in collaboration with Erstwhile, presents two nights with legendary guitarist Keith Rowe at TEMP in downtown Manhattan. Originally trained as a painter, Rowe adopted principles of the plastic arts, applying them directly to the electric guitar. On the first evening of Rowe’s two-night residency he premieres collaborations with former Shadow Ring member Graham Lambkin, and Wandelweiser member Michael Pisaro.

Program

Keith Rowe/Michael Pisaro (premiere)
Keith Rowe/Graham Lambkin (premiere)

Keith Rowe led the forefront of the initial wave of European free improvisation, co-founding the AMM collective in 1965 and originating the tabletop guitar. The tabletop guitar has remained at the center of his ever-evolving setup of electronics and gadgets ever since, becoming increasingly stripped down and minimal in recent years. Having mostly performed within AMM until the late 90’s, he’s since been involved in a wide range of projects, including a slew of Erstwhile’s most prominent releases. He is the cornerstone musician of the label, and his wide range of releases over the last decade stands with the strongest bodies of work of the last century in improvised music. He has been an integral part of every AMPLIFY festival since 2002, performing seven festivals in five cities on three continents.

Michael Pisaro was born in Buffalo, NY in 1961, studied with Ben Johnston in the 1980’s and joined the Wandelweiser Komponisten Ensemble in 1995. He teaches composition and experimental music at the California Institute of the Arts near Los Angeles. Recent recordings are on Erstwhile, HEM Berlin, Another Timbre and his own imprint, Gravity Wave. After countless presentations of his compositions ISSUE Project Room is extremely excited to host Pisaro as a performer for the first time in a duo with Keith Rowe.

Graham Lambkin has been a unique presence in underground culture for the past twenty years. As a musician he first came to attention through the work of his band The Shadow Ring, blending DIY folk, noise, abstract electronics, and surreal poetry into strikingly original forms. For the past decade Lambkin has enjoyed a solo career, releasing a string of memorable LP’s and CD’s including 2007’s highly acclaimed Salmon Run, as well as a fruitful collaboration with New England sound artist Jason Lescalleet, the first results of which were issued in 2008 as The Breadwinner followed by 2010’s Air Supply. This concert will be the premiere of Lambkin’s collaboration with Keith Rowe.

TEMP is an art project space in the historic TriBeCa neighborhood of New York. Its mission is to promote emerging artists and curators through exhibitions, performances, and collaborations. Encouraging creative discourse, the space is a place for experimentation, ingenuity, and talent in the arts. In September, TEMP opened its inaugural exhibition Working On It, a group show that explores the creative zeitgeist of young adults in the early 2010s.