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.
Peter Evans closes his 2014 residency with a solo trumpet performance. Improvisation is used as a method of pressurizing and slowly refining materials from concert to concert; a process of using the known as a catapult to the unknown that is a central focus of Evans' residency and work in general.
An emergency public meeting hosted by sound adventurer Matana Roberts features the voices of concerned NYC artists on the grand jury verdict of Eric Garner. This is an opportunity for open dialogue in the arts community around problems of policing in urban space.
Liz Harris (Grouper) and Paul Clipson present the NY premiere of HYPNOSIS DISPLAY, an evening-length original live sound and 16mm film collaboration exploring impressionistic, emotional and sensory environments found within the vast natural and urban landscapes of America.
Raúl De Nieves closes his 2014 ISSUE Residency with "Heel Yourself", an immersive 20-channel audio installation built from the sounds of ABBA's 1979 classic "Voulez Vous", mixed live from vinyl simultaneously by 20 turntables. The night includes live performances by Sadaf H. Nava and Whitney Vangrin.
Raúl De Nieves presents DE FEET N JOY a pop-up “shoe store” and sculptural installation transforming the lobby of our 22 Boerum Place theater, on weekdays Dec 10-19. Derived from, and often worn in the artist’s performances, the objects present new ideas on the practicality of sculpture and installation.
A benefit for ISSUE, acclaimed electronics duo Matmos perform scenes from Robert Ashley's groundbreaking television-opera "Perfect Lives", with opening performance by HARIBO. They present the first and final acts, “The Park”, featuring string ensemble, and “The Backyard”, both accompanied by new video work.
Swedish Energies 2014: EMS at 50
Swedish Energies closes at ISSUE with raw synthesis & video by Maria w Horn, Stephen O’Malley, doom-metal legend of Sunn O)))) fame, solo, Kristina Matousch exploring themes of digestion and eroticism, Leif Elggren & Kent Tankred as The Sons of God, and Ellen Arkbro, who draws on minimalism and just intonation.
Swedish Energies 2014: EMS at 50
Swedish Energies returns to ISSUE with a massive bill including sound artist Jenny Sunesson, saxophonist Christine Abdelnour duo with Joachim Nordwall (The Skull Defekts), Daniel Rozenhall collaboration with designer Sten Backman, Frederikke Hoffmeier (aka Puce Mary), and the notorious Carl Michael von Hausswolff.