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.
ISSUE Project Room presents a two-evening retrospective of collaborative performance works by poet Susan Howe and musician David Grubbs, in partnership with the Museum of Modern Art. Since 2003 the pair has created four full-length works. Three pieces are presented as well as a moderated discussion with the artists.
UK-based Áine O’Dwyer's performances cross boundaries of composition, improvisation, chance, psycho-geography. Primarily a harpist, for this concert she grapples with the "king of instruments", applying her sense of melodic, structured improvisation to the pipe organ.
Artists-In-Residence 2015
C. Spencer Yeh presents two new moving image works showcasing his unique perspective as an artist, organizer, and audience member. A travelogue captured via smartphone in Egypt explores surveillance, chance composition, tourism, and politics. Shot over the year 2002, a "concert film" documents approximately 40 bands.
International Festival of Text-Sound Poetry
Spanning plastic, poetry and post-rock, French artist and poet Anne-James Chaton performs. Both instrumental and physical, Stine Janvin Motland pushes the limits of the natural acoustics of the voice. Poet and programmer Ian Hatcher explores cognition in the context of digital systems.
International Festival of Text-Sound Poetry
Sound and radio artist Antje Vowinckel performs with voice and vinyl. Marc Matter mutates voical sounds via turntablist techniques. Swantje Lichtenstein's conceptual poetry and sound improvisations utilize electroacoustic elements.
International Festival of Text-Sound Poetry
Steve McCaffery, of the legendary Four Horsemen, plays, performs and discusses various 20th century sound texts. Torres explores sound as a landing point for a territorial poetry to begin. Matter and Liechtenstein focus on pre-conceptual poetry in relation to historical text-sound-works, poésie sonore and Hörspiel.
International Festival of Text-Sound Poetry
Charles Bernstein speaks on the history of PennSound, the web's largest archive of digital poetry recordings, with some close listening included. Through the consideration of Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, a talk by Erin Morrill explores the de-automatization of listening practices via a Dadaist mindset.
SOLD OUT! Renowned composer, instrument builder and Fluxus artist Yoshi Wada reprises performances of his early 70s work “Earth Horns with Electronic Drone”. Wada performs on four original “pipe horn” instruments with an ensemble of NY players, and is accompanied on organ and electronics by his son composer Tashi Wada.