Join us on Saturday, December 17 for a presentation of the work this year's artists completed during their residencies. The 2016 Artist Residency Program is made possible thanks once again to a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts Art Works Program.
A composite of sound recordings from inside and outside the Cook County Jail, as well as a video pan of the 25’ jail wall examine the blurry line between the inside and outside of the largest single-site jail in the country. Situated within a working class immigrant neighborhood in Chicago and the artists’ native community, Gaspar has been recording the social behaviors and informal architectures surrounding a place of incarceration to make visible the politics of location. In this piece, she juxtaposes the acoustics of the interior life of detention alongside a local summer carnival that takes place outside the jail wall every year. The artist negotiates the psychological experience of of the carceral state and the effects of mass incarceration. It includes an excerpt from a series of personal conversations and interviews with Adolfo Davis by his collaborator, Elyse Blennerhassett. Convicted at the age of fourteen, Davis is currently serving a mandatory life sentence.
This year's resident artists will present their work in an event at the studio on December 5th. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.
Since 1999, the ESS Artist Residency Program has facilitated the creation of 51 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. We are proud to present the work of our current resident artists in a showcase event featuring live performances, a film screening and a gallery installation.
As recipients of one of ESS's 2011-12 Artist Residencies, Madison psych-folk duo Spires That in the Sunset Rise and acclaimed percussionist Michael Zerang will culminate the Outer Ear series with three consecutive nights of performances. Before each performance, the musicians will spend 6-8 hours at ESS to intensively explore various compositional frameworks and electronic enhancements for the 25 instruments the they plan to employ. Each concert will be professionally recorded by ESS staff; the artists will edit and mix the resulting recordings into an album to be completed in early 2012.
