The Lab: October, 2023

As of this writing, October has turned out to be relatively quiet at The Lab, particularly when compared with the four music-related performance that will be taking place next month. Two events have been planned, the first of which will be given two presentations on successive evenings. For those unfamiliar with the venue, The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street. This is particularly good for those using public transportation, since it is a short walk to the corner of 16th Street and Mission Street. Busses stop at that corner for both north-south and east-west travel, and downstairs there is a station for a BART line running under Mission Street. Doors will open half an hour prior to when the performance will begin. Specific information, including a hyperlink to the event page that provides both background material and hyperlinks for ticket purchases, is as follows:

A photograph of the sculptural electronic system entitled Mesh Manifold (from the event page on the Web site for The Lab)

Thursday, October 5, 8:30 p.m.: MSHR is the duo of Brenna Murphy and Birch Cooper. They build and explore sculptural electronic systems. The title of their installation at The Lab is Mesh Manifold. As they describe the piece, it consists of “a multitude of devices in a complex and unruly feedback system of sound and light.” They have offered the following details:

The resonating bodies contain custom-built electrical circuits with sensors and amplifiers that emit and respond to signals rippling throughout the system. The entities converse through these physical connections as well as engaging with an invisible software canopy inscribed across the terrain through various programming languages. As elements of the system themselves, MSHR move throughout the sculptural array, adjusting the waveform micro-climates while modulating their own decisions in response to the unpredictable audiovisual results of their active presence. The entities and agents together form a babbling biome for electrical current, cultivating a life-like chorus from inert components.

This installation was commissioned by both The Lab and Indexical with in-kind support from the Arts Council of Santa Cruz County and Idea Fab Labs in Santa Cruz. [added 9/8, 12:10 p.m.:

Friday, October 20, 8:30 p.m.:  The TAK Ensemble, which is based in New York, will visit to perform In a forest, by Michelle Lou. TAK is a quintet, whose members are Laura Cocks on flute, clarinetist Madison Greenstone, vocalist Charlotte Mundy, Marina Kifferstein on violin, and Ellery Trafford on percussion. In a forest will surround the audience with immersive eight-channel sound. The program will also include INTERBEING, created by Eric Wubbels. This presents a slow-moving ritualized progression through a series of visual, acoustic, and theatrical formations.]

Friday, October 27, 8:30 p.m.: The month will conclude with a duo performance by loscil (Scott Morgan) and Lawrence English. They collaborated in producing the album Colours of Air, and they will bring a live performance of the music on that album to The Lab. The sources for the album were drawn from a rich palette of sounds from a pipe organ that is about a century old. Since traveling with a pipe organ is out of the question, their performance at The Lab will involve arranging, mixing, and supplementing the source material used to create Colours of Air. The auditory results will be supplemented with real-time adaptive visuals, which will bring alternative perspectives to the experience of just listening to the album.