Formed in NYC in 1993, the improvising collective No-Neck Blues Band (NNCK) favors anonymity, autonomy, and obfuscation. Alongside founding member Keith Connolly (2016 AIR), they return to open ISSUE’s Fall season at First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn.
ISSUE presents the first commission from Eden Girma (2026 AIR). Part dreamscape and part summoning circle, an intimate diasporic familial archive is pieced together through the eyes of a five-year-old child.
In partnership with Franklin Furnace as part of their 50th anniversary commemoration and November release of "Back to the Present: 50 Years of Free Expression with Franklin Furnace" ISSUE presents an evening of performance and conversation.
Incorporating elements of noise, trance and minimalism, Sergei Tcherepnin (2012 AIR) presents new work for Serge Modular synthesizer.
Keith Connolly, aka L.GRAY opens his ISSUE Project Room residency with A BLACKSTAR VALENTINE. A love letter in sound and vision to the Duke and the Baron, the event features PAPASHEROS (L.GRAY, JF Ryan, and Lala Ryan), Pigeons, and a very special appearance by legendary Japanese singer-songwriter Morio Agata.
ISSUE Artist-In-Residence Mariana Valencia’s Originators is a choreography and lecture shaped from the language of history and dance. This dense activation of content doesn't claim itself to a genre— rather, Originators proposes a new space where blended mediums meet without a hierarchy of value.
Korean filmmaker Hangjun Lee and improvising musician Chulki Hong have collaborated since 2006 as the audiovisual research project “Expanded Celluloid, Extended Phonograph”. Their practice has explored the performativity of the darkroom, the screening room, the private studio, and here in live performance.
ISSUE Members are welcomed for a sneak peek at our 22 Boerum Pl. theater at this invitation-only Year-End Celebration. Artist-In-Residence Dawn Kasper premieres "Not There", a new improvisational score inspired by the Lakota myth of Iktomi that illustrates a tale of deception. Preceded by an open-bar reception.
Artists-In-Residence 2015
A talk by Evan Calder Williams develops around two fields of inquiry: the practice of weaving and the concept of the grotesque. Continuing his interest in the essay form as experimental historical montage, Williams moves between the daily and fantastic, passing amongst pixels, tombs, and factories.
ISSUE returns to our 22 Boerum Pl. theater for a unique event before the final stage of construction begins. Pioneering artist Joan Jonas performs. GABI is joined by Michael Pisaro. Charles Bernstein, Mónica de la Torre, and Elizabeth Willis read, and David Grubbs performs, in recognition of Susan Howe.
Swedish Energies V: Nordic Edition
ISSUE’s Swedish Energies Festival returns to NY for the 5th-annual edition. Presented in collaboration with EMS and the Consulate General of Sweden in New York, the series brings together a wide-ranging international lineup of visionary electronic and improvisational musicians spanning genres of sound and visual art.
Swedish Energies V: Nordic Edition
ISSUE’s Swedish Energies Festival returns to NY for the 5th-annual edition. Presented in collaboration with EMS and the Consulate General of Sweden in New York, the series brings together a wide-ranging international lineup of visionary electronic and improvisational musicians spanning genres of sound and visual art.