2018
New Ear Festival 2024
Friday, January 5 – Sunday, January 7
Fridman Gallery's New Ear Festival is a bold exploration of avant-garde sound and contemporary art. The festival features a diverse lineup of artists pushing the boundaries of sonic innovation, embodying one of Fridman Gallery's core missions—to help restore the creative, experimental spirit of downtown Manhattan.
FILM SCREENINGS
presented each night of the festival
The Institute of Queer Ecology
Hysteria
Hysteria is an original multichannel video installation by IQECO premiering at the Kestner Gesellschaft. In this installation, the institute uses image, movement, and sound to construct an ecofeminist retelling of the poorly understood “dancing plagues” that swept through Europe between the tenth and the seventeenth centuries. The afflicted dancers are subtly recast as pointedly subversive agents entangled in environmental contagion and contamination that drive these wild, manic uprisings.
Dancing plagues (also referred to as dancing mania, choreomania, and tarantism) were spontaneous social phenomena in which groups of people, at times in the thousands, danced erratically and without restraint. The mania affected people of all ages and genders, and they often danced until they collapsed from exhaustion or suffered injury and even death. Although the phenomenon is well documented and affected multitudes of people across several centuries, these choreomanic events are still poorly understood.
Emilija Škarnulytė
Emilija Škarnulytė’s new work is a poetic meditation on the lifelong journey of one man’s never-ending search for home.
"We follow Abshalom Ben Shlomo through a day, as we travel simultaneously through the cosmos with him as an African American refugee, legendary jazz musician, and spiritual searcher."
PROGRAM
FRIDAY, JANUARY 5
Alaara
Brooklyn-based trio Alaara includes Grey McMurray on guitar, Sonya Belaya on piano, and Nicole Patrick on drums. The trio creates long form improvisations that prioritize patience, effortlessly traversing the spaces of jazz, experimental minimalism, and ambient music. In the lineage of loving friendship, the trio’s strength lies in the deepest listening, the vastness of their individual multiplicities, and an understanding that the present moment is the most precious one
Larum
Larum, a classicaltronic duo consisting of Micah Frank and Chet Doxas, will collaborate with renowned composer and 12k helmsman Taylor Deupree. Together, they will present an improvised live set blending woodwinds and electronics that will include selected compositions from the seminal graphic score Treatise by experimental music composer Cornelius Cardew.
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SATURDAY, JANUARY 6
CURATED BY STILL/MOVING
Still/Moving
Still/Moving operates as an event series local to NYC, producing shows ranging from indie rap to free jazz. The platform was founded to promote experimentation & innovation within the realm of the performing arts, while centering artists of color.
Performance Art by Bilal
Philadelphia's Bilal, a trailblazing R&B artist, broke free from neo-soul constraints with a uniquely trained voice and modern sound, facing label setbacks but gaining grassroots support. His jazz roots flourished at the New School for Jazz, and notable collaborations in 1999 marked his entry into the spotlight. His debut album "1st Born Second" showcased exemplary neo-soul, setting him apart from peers. Despite label challenges, his hiatus led to a triumphant return in 2010 with "Airtight's Revenge," featuring the Grammy-nominated track "Little One." Subsequent releases, including "A Love Surreal" and "In Another Life," solidified Bilal's influential presence in R&B.
Pink Siifu
Shifting between styles with deftness, Alabama's elusive Pink Siifu found underground success in the late 2010s with his experimental blend of genres. Piecing together aspects of his wide-ranging influences, the prolific rapper/singer and producer built an extensive catalog during the 2010s, releasing a total of 46 EPs, albums, and mixtapes throughout the decade. Siifu has been no less busy in the 2020s with projects such as Negro (2020), Gumbo'! (2021), and Real Bad Flights (2022) expanding his body of work.
T'nah
T’nah, a Brooklyn-based artist, blends urban influence with soulful sounds. Her raw voice, and mix of vintage soul with modern edge, sets her apart in the music scene. T’nah’s commitment to authenticity ensures she’s one to watch in
soul-infused hip-hop.
She is known for her authentic & evocative vocals and profound lyrics. Her urban influence blends seamlessly with an undeniable soulful sound, creating a unique genre-bending experience.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 7
Nepenthae
Nepenthae’s slow moving and visceral sonic world draws upon diverse influences ranging from noise, doom metal, free jazz, and spectralism, invoking a full spectrum vibratory experience, oscillating between stasis and movement, and the materialintensity of low frequency sound.
Nepenthae’s unique instrumentation features:
17-string electric bass (Zach Layton), contrabass, (Henry Fraser),
and drums (Greg Fox).
CURATED BY ((LE SON 7))
Le Son 7, a sound art gallery based in France, on the eve of its first exhibition in New York (from 9 – 14 January, 570 Broome Street, 10013 NY) presents a one-hour guided listening session of multi-channel and stereo pieces. The gallery only works with audio, there is nothing to see.
On the program are two stereo pieces, a compelling study of climate change in California by Bernie Krause and a sonification of the oscillations of stars by Caroline Devine, a four-channel deep-listening contemplation of different cities by KMRU and two eight channel works: a supernatural evocation of the ancient symbols by Beatriz Ferreyra and a tribute to a departed friend from Stephen Vitiello.
HxH
HxH is the improvisatory electro-acoustic duo of Lester St. Louis and Chris Williams. The duo utilizes a mix of trumpet, cello and electronics to build worlds traversing through acoustic sound, grainy textures, expansive pools of sounds, breaks, cuts and beats. The approach is conceived as an expansiveness that holds a personal intimacy. HxH wants to bring the listeners in, tune them to the experience and take a long trip. HxH functions as a vehicle to bring together the mass of references andinfluences Chris and Lester share and create ways to crystalize those ideas in real, expanded time to an experience over minutes or hours.
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