Chicago Reader

Outer Ear Festival of Sound 

Presented by Experimental Sound Studio, the festival features sound installations, performances, and workshops through December 13.

By Kevin Warwick
Melissa St. Pierre

Melissa St. Pierre

Experimental Sound Studio presents the Outer Ear Festival of Sound, an annual celebration of "sonic arts" that this year runs through December 13, featuring sound installations, performances, workshops, and more. The festival kicks off with the sound installation 25 Acres of Coins, presented in conjunction with the Poetry Center of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute's sound department; an opening reception runs from 4:30 till 6 PM on Thursday, November 5, at Sullivan Galleries (36 S. State), and the installation will be up through November 25. On Sunday, November 8, Melissa St. Pierre will give a 2 PM prepared-piano performance at ESS (5925 N. Ravenswood), after which she'll lead a workshop for "pianists, composers, musicians, and experimenters interested in altering the piano's innards." On Thursday, November 12, at 6 PM, the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State) will screen Variable Area: Hearing and Seeing Sound, 1966-78, a 65-minute program curated by Michelle Puetz of the Chicago Film Archives that examines the relationship between avant-garde cinema and avant-garde music; Art Lange, Guillermo Gregorio, and Brian Labycz will provide live musical accompaniment to Richard Lerman's Sections for Screen, Performers, and Audience (1974). On Friday, November 13, sound artist Brett Ian Balogh's Chora, a "computer-controlled installation incorporating video projection and multichannel audio," opens at ESS with a 6 PM reception; the piece will stay up through December 13. Prices and suggested donations vary and several events are free. For a complete schedule, including details on installations and performances not mentioned here, call 773-769-1069 or visit exsost.org/public-presentation/outer-ear.

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