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.
Composer William Basinski has been active for over three decades, creating a vast body of haunting and melancholic soundscapes that have secured his place as an icon of contemporary ambient music. Tonight he performs solo, returning to ISSUE with the New York premiere of his recent evening-length work "Cascade".
This evening showcases performers of the Vin Du Select Qualitite, or VDSQ label, an acoustic guitar LP series curated by Steve Lowenthal of Swingset Magazine and Plastic Records. Bill Orcutt, Glenn Jones, Mark McGuire, Matthew Mullane and Anthony Pasquarosa perform, celebrating new and forthcoming releases.
Francisco López makes a rare NY appearance creating an immersive sonic experience in the dark, with multi-channel sound and blindfolded audience. Taylor Deupree and Stephen Vitiello, label-mates and collaborators, perform a unique duo featuring modular synthesizers, field recordings and guitar.
Part of Movement Research's "Fallow Time" Festival, "Prepared Field" is an evening that invites multiplicity in the sensory and self. Graze on performance, sculpture and film that bump up against the festival’s themes. Lily Gold, Macklin Kowal, Zavé Martohardjono, Honey McMoney & more perform.
For their first performance at ISSUE the Peter Evans Quintet debuts five new compositions by Evans including pieces dedicated to biologist Lynn Margulis and musician/composer Alice Coltrane, in addition to improvisatory platforms for the unique playing styles of the band members.
Tectonics Festival New York
Tectonics concludes highlighting works by Eric Richards, a little-known but influential avant-garde composer. Hildur Guðnadóttir, acclaimed cellist known for collaborations with múm and Pan Sonic, plays solo. Alvin Lucier plays two works with Jenny Lin, and Baritone Jeffrey Gavett plays Lucier, Scelsi and others.
The second day of Tectonics Festival turns attention to Harley Gaber. His monumental "The Winds Rise in the North", a pillar of American minimalism, is performed here by a quintet including extraordinary string players Conrad Harris, Pauline Kim, Esther Noh, Alex Waterman and Erin Wight.
