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.
Alison Knowles presents Loose Pages, which engages with the sculptural potential of the book through performance. Alex Waterman follows, performing one of Knowles' Bean Scores on cello.
2011 Artist-in-Residence James Ilgenfritz juxtaposes his work as a composer and as an improviser, splitting the evening between a large-scale improvisational work for a quartet, and premieres of two new chamber works. With Dither, Josh Sinton, Jeremiah Cymerman, and Brian Chase.
Annea Lockwood’s installation “A Sound Map of the Housatonic River” (2010) is constructed from both surface and underwater recordings of the Housatonic River, from the river’s source in the Berkshire mountains to its mouth in the Long Island Sound. The installation will run from 11 am – 5 pm daily.
Issue Project Room and Performa present a night of historical works and new compositions inspired by Fluxus. The evening includes noise artist Felix Kubin, New York underground musician Lary 7, “compositional linguist” Chris Mann, MV Carbon performing on a Nam June Paik inspired TV cello, and more.
On 11/11/11, for the final installment of their residency, Prince Rama will herald in the end of the world by way of karaoke. Chose from number one hit singles corresponding with the dates of eleven predicted "apocalypses" (Heavens Gate, Jonestown, and Y2K), which they've "chop and screwed" for the occasion.
Emerging Artists Commissions 2011
Uncanny Valley is a monodrama exploring the region where robotic human replicas begin to emulate humans too closely, causing revulsion in observers. Dominique Ahkong's text is inspired by the legend of Descartes' "daughter," Francine, and the story pursues the discovery and eventual destruction of the mechanical being.
Alex Chechile performs On the Sensations of Tone, a structured composition that combines elements of psychophysics, cognitive science, physiology, and improvisation. Utilizing the acoustics of the room and the multichannel sound system, the work evoke unusual responses in both the ear and the body.
Trumpeter Nate Wooley performs his new piece “Eight Syllables,” the first composition using a notational system based on the International Phonetic Alphabet. Phonetic sounds, which are the building blocks of syllables, are mapped onto a set of parameters limiting how the lips, tongue, teeth, and throat interact.