Monarch Butterfly by rocío sánchez (2026 AIR) features Melissa Almaguer (tap dance and percussion) and Kenneth Jiménez (double bass). Together, the trio explores the elusive monarch’s migratory journey through sound and movement, with each instrument articulating distinct states of motion.
Isabella Thorpe-Woods presents "Envelop/e," her second program as ISSUE’s 2026 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow. Bringing together choreographers Jade Manns and Ella Dawn W-S for site-specific duets, they navigate presence and absence, repetition and rupture, and the tension between inherited geometries and shifting landscapes.
"Spiriting Off" is a new solo work by luthier Webb Crawford (2026 AIR) for electric guitar, tenor banjo, and five-string banjo.
ISSUE closes the summer season with the return of Matana Roberts (2009 AIR). Opening the evening, Ben Vida (2013 AIR) will perform music from his 2026 release, "Oblivion Seekers" with vocalist Sara Magenheimer.
In Alvin Lucier’s Queen of the South, performed here by the ensembles loadbang and Pygmy Jerboa, a metal plate is put into motion by amplified voices, such that sand on the plate forms into beautiful designs. The duo On Structure perform "Strange Song Cycle".
Darmstadt Institute is pleased to present the NYC Premiere of the documentary “Knots and Fields” by British artists Andrew Chesher and David Ryan. Since 2008, the filmmakers have intensely worked with interview and archive material on their film about the Darmstadt Summer Course.
Ellen Fullman, composer, instrument builder, and performer, will perform on her life-long work the Long String Instrument, where multiple strings are held tight across an entire room. She is Joined by David Gamper, Theresa Wong, David Douglas, Sean Meehan, and Monique Buzzarté.
Art-punk band Lycaon Pictus recalls “the apocalypse imagined by Pere Ubu,” (New York Times). Their keyboard/bass/drums trio combines drones and heavy synthesizers with dark humor. Thank You Rosekind will play selections from their forthcoming album ATTENTION INTENTION!
The 2008 Table of the Elements release Guitar Trio is My Life! is celebrated here with a much larger ensemble, the Lords of Tinnitus, anchored by drummer Jonathan Kane and accompanied by images by artist Robert Longo. Text of Light (William Hooker, Alan Licht, and Nels Cline), Jon Mueller, and Peg Simone join.
