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.
Performances by Ingrid Laubrock, Mary Halvorson, Tom Rainy and Magick Report.
Performances by the Czech musicians, Iva Bittová with her son, Antonín Bittová, at ISSUE Project Room.
Initially based on guerilla impulse and a dissatisfaction with the early 90’s post grunge diaspora, the No-Neck Blues Band emerged in 1993 on New York’s lower east side, soon congealing into an 8-piece cabal of practicing improvisers, determined to collectively inhabit an elsewhere entirely of their own design.
Olde English Spelling Bee + Future Sounds Presents: Predator Vision + Ducktails at ISSUE Project Room.
The Text of Light group was formed in 1999 to perform improvised music to the films of Stan Brakhage and other members of the American Cinema avant-garde of the 1950s-60s. The group takes on various permutations and tonight Lee Ranaldo, Alan Licht, DJ Olive & William Hooker will be performing at ISSUE Project Room.
A collaborative performance between Dafna Naphtali, Alex Waterman, and Darius Jones plus a performance by avant-turnbtablist, Maria Chavez at ISSUE Project Room.
ISSUE Project Room presents a collaborative performance by singer/composer Shelley Hirsch, self-taugh electronic musician Aki Onda, and video artist Ursula Scherrer.
The Dream of the Ants, the ensemble led by guitarist Terrence McManus, will be performing a new multi-sectional, through-composed work entitled, The Machine. Matt Bauder will be performing with This Could be Anywhere (w/ Jason Ajemian) & Architeuthis Walks on Land (w/ Katherine Young, Amy Cimini).