Bassist and composer James Ilgenfritz (2011 AIR) returns to ISSUE, joined by Joe McPhee and AC Diamond for their first performance as a trio. This event marks a new shared context for three artists deeply invested in improvisation as a mode of inquiry.
ISSUE presents the premiere of three audiovisual compositions by Matt Mottel (2010 AIR). These works bring Mottel’s distinct artistic sensibility into dialogue with formative figures in his life and in New York’s avant-garde, tracing a lineage that is both deeply personal and central to ISSUE’s history.
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.
Butch Morris (1947-2013 ) invented a new approach called "conduction," a way of composing in real time by conducting improvising musicians. To celebrate his legacy, ISSUE and the London Review of Books present a panel moderated by Adam Shatz, featuring Greg Tate, George E. Lewis, Mary Jane Leach and Brandon Ross.
Saturday, September 9th at Abrons Art Center Studio G05, Byron Westbrook continues his ISSUE residency with “Threshold Variations,” an immersive environment focusing on the synaesthetic play between light amplitude, sound volume, and the threshold of perception.
ISSUE's 2017 fall season opens at the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn Heights with celebrated process-musician William Basinski, Brooklyn-based artist Selwa Abd’s Bergonist project, and Houston-born digipoet YATTA each in solo performance. Join as an ISSUE Member at any level and get a free ticket.
Laurel Halo presents new work from her singularly elusive new album Dust, deeply mediated by technology, media, and memory. Thomas Brinkmann also presents the premiere U.S. live staging of renowned 2000 album Klick. Producer/composer Derek Piotr opens with a live version of his 2016 record Drono.
3D Sound Object
Tuesday, July 18, ISSUE and Harvestworks present Stephan Moore, Scott Smallwood and Suzanne Thorpe dedicating performances to the experimental legacy of Pauline Oliveros, presented as a part of World Listening Day 2017. The evening features acoustician Paul Geluso’s 3D Sound Object speaker system.
Friday, July 14th, ISSUE and Harvestworks present composer and synthesis pioneer David Rosenboom and vocalist and sound artist Viv Corringham each premiering new pieces focused on approaching acoustician Paul Geluso’s immersive 3D Sound Object.
Thursday, July 6th, New York artist Evan Caminiti and San-Francisco-based filmmaker Paul Clipson present an audiovisual collaboration drawing from Caminiti’s most recent album Toxic City Music. Iranian-born, NYC-based producer, violinist, vocalist and multi-media artist SADAF also presents new work.
