Since 1999, the ESS Artist Residency Program has facilitated the creation of 40 new works involving the exploration of sound. Audio art, experimental music, installation, cinema, performing arts, and radio art have all been represented in the roster of former ARP recipients.
ARP 2011-2012
After an unfortunate hiatus in 2010, ESS is extremely pleased to announce the revival of the Artist Residency Program, thanks to a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. As part of the 2011-12 ARP, ESS will present the residents' final work as part of our Outer Ear performance series in 2012.
We will offer four 40-hour residencies, at least three of which are for Chicago area artists, with one residency open to a non-Chicago US artist. Each residency includes access to the ESS recording facilities with engineering assistance.
2011-2012 RECIPIENTS
LEAH BEEFERMAN
Brooklyn animator and sound artist Leah Beeferman will use her residency time to complete the soundtrack to an animated video project she currently has in process. "The soundtrack will be composed primarily of recordings made in science laboratories—those working in particle physics, condensed matter physics, mechanical engineering, microscopic imaging, and other areas. These recordings, many of which are already completed, will be edited together abstractly, both processed and in their original forms."
LORI FELKER
Lori Felker has been working on a series of "television programs" that employ the trappings of the archetypal public access television shows (e.g, gardening how-to's, travel guides, etc.) to "explore our public self in contrast and in dialogue with our inner monologue." Her current project in the series, IT DOESN'T MATTER, apes teen science shows like Mr. Wizard and Bill Nye the Science Guy, and explores the topic of "matter" and its opposite: "doesn't matter." She will use her residency time to record theremin and synthesizer sounds, complete ADR, and complete the post-production audio mix for her video.
CAULEEN SMITH
Cauleen Smith is producing THE POCKET, a limited edition run of vinyl 12" LPs that will be one component of a multimedia installation at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art in May. "The LP will be a series of conversations (both fictional and actual), dramatic narratives, and sonic essays crafted with synthetic and diegetic sounds that explore the way in which the city of Chicago and its black working class citizens, musicians, and artists facilitated Herman Blount's metamorphosis into the stellar artist known as Sun Ra. The LP will be a limited edition of 1500, hand silkscreened cover (an homage to Sun Ra and Alton Abraham's small pressings) and a booklet which includes writings from a spectrum of artists and scholars ruminating on Sun Ra's process of Becoming in Chicago." She will avail herself of the materials in ESS's Sun Ra/El Saturn Collection to inform and augment her work.
SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE & MICHAEL ZERANG
Madison psych folk duo Spires That in the Sunset Rise (Kathleen Baird, Taralie Peterson) and percussionist Michael Zerang will take a period of three days to "explore the various combinations of instruments that [they] employ and create compositional frameworks for them." With the aid of ESS engineers, they will also investigate new ways to electrically enhance the array of 25 acoustic instruments. At the end of each of these days, they will perform live at ESS as part of this fall's Outer Ear series. Each recording will be edited and manipulated down into an album length release that they hope to have completed by early 2012.
Click here to view a list of current and past recipients >>
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