Matana Roberts Presents: “red, white and blue(s)”
New Year’s Eve – Thursday, December 31
9pm–1am
Whitney Museum of American Art
99 Gansevoort Street
212- 570 3600
Manhattan
Renowned sound experimentalist, composer, and improviser Matana Roberts returns to the Whitney for this special one-night only New Year’s Eve ensemble performance and celebration. Over the last year Roberts has performed throughout the Whitney’s new building in a series of site-specific engagements, including a roving hard-hat concert in the midst of construction, an incantation to inaugurate the opening, a live in-gallery improvisation with Eva Hesse’s No Title (1969), a daylong happening, and a week-long open studio residency in the theater. red, white and blue(s) marks the culmination of this series—coalescing into a complex, thoughtful and celebratory consideration of contemporary American art and music. This event will debut a score that Roberts composed over this past year through this series of open-ended public explorations, which responded to the Whitney’s galleries, performance spaces and the inaugural exhibition America is Hard to See. For this special performance, Roberts also draws inspiration from the life and work of Archibald Motley, whose work is currently on view.
Roberts has emerged as one of the most innovative cross-disciplinary sound artists of her generation. A dynamic saxophonist, composer, improviser, and mixed media sound conceptualist, her acclaimed artistic practice aims to expose the mystical roots and the intuitive spirit-raising traditions of American creative expression in her music and art. Her innovative work has forged new conceptual approaches to considering narrativity, history, and political expression within improvisatory structures.
Featuring
Matana Roberts: alto saxophone, composition and electronics with Stuart Bogie: clarinet, Jeff Tobias: alto saxophone, Peter Evans: trumpet, Steve Swell: trombone, Mazz Swift : violin, Daniel Levin: cello, Jessica Pavone: viola, Mary Halvorson: guitar, Gabriel Guerrero: piano, Me’Shell NdegéOcello: bass, Tomas Fujiwara: drums, Helado Negro: wordspeak and electronics.
Followed by a DJ set by special guest: DJ Rupture
Location: Floor Three, Susan and John Hess Family Theater.
- Form and Feeling—The Making of Concretism - 03/08/2016
- Tulivu and Seasoned Elegance - 02/25/2016
- B-Side: Renee Neufville - 02/04/2016