Installation Performances, Night One

To kick off the opening night, meet us at Moon Viewing Platform when the sun goes down. View the installation from 465 North 18th Street, and enjoy food, music, and family-friendly activities starting at 5:30 p.m. Then join us for guided walks over to 990 Spring Garden Street, to experience a dynamic schedule of audio-visual and musical performances.

Aspect 281 with Carolyn Healy & John JH Phillips
Thomas Kraines (cello) and Kinan Abou-afach (cello and oud), playing music by Kinan Abou-afach and others. 5:30–6 p.m. / 7:30–8 p.m.

BEEP, directed by Adam Vidiksis. 6:30–6:45 p.m. / 8:30–9 p.m.

Audio-visual work from John JH Phillips. 6:45–7 p.m.

Soon/ Now/ Gone with Erik Ruin & Rosie Langabeer
Mary McCool with Carolyn Gennari & Jenna Horton. 6–6:30 p.m. / 7–7:30 p.m. / 8–8:30 p.m. / 9–9:30 p.m.

Moon Viewing Platform (First Quarter Moon) with Nadia Hironaka, Matthew Suib, & Eugene Lew
Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society, featuring Joshua Abrams (guimbri), Lisa Alvarado (harmonium), Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone), Hamid Drake (tablas, tar), Marquis Hill (trumpet), Nick Mazzarella (alto saxophone), Jeff Parker (guitar), and Jason Stein (bass clarinet); performing compositions from the group’s latest album, Mandatory Reality. 6:37 (sunset)–9 p.m. Performing rain or shine.

Thomas Kraines & Kinan Abou-afach
Thomas Kraines is the cellist of the Daedalus Quartet, familiar to fans of classical and contemporary music in Philadelphia. Kraines is joined by the Syrian-born cellist and composer Kinan Abou-afach to play original compositions by Abou-Afach, who explores contemporary classical and Arabic music styles. Abou-afach is a Pew Fellow and has been widely recognized for his music. This is the world premiere performance by these extraordinarily talented musicians.

BEEP (Boyer Electroacoustic Ensemble Project), directed by Adam Vidiksis
Founded in 2013 by Adam Vidiksis at Temple University, BEEP embraces a variety of aesthetics and styles, from EDM to the avant-garde. They function in varied forms: from a laptop orchestra, to fusion of computers and traditional instruments, to an electronic music band. BEEP uses the laptop orchestra model, an ensemble of computer-based meta-instruments, as but one of many possible modes of music making using computers and other electronics.

For their performances at Aspect 281, Vidiksis and BEEP are creating special compositions that relate to railroad communications systems, which anticipate the computer-based communication systems we use today. They will use some of the same source material as artists Carolyn Healy & John JH Phillips have used to create Aspect 281.

Mary McCool
Acting as a docent and subtle provocateur to those experiencing the Soon/ Now/ Gone audio-visual installation, Mary McCool shares facts, stories, and asks questions to help visitors uncover the history of the very spot on which they are standing. McCool is a writer, actor, and comedian, and professional Philadelphia history nerd. She’s performed on Philadelphia stages since 1998, as well as Off-Broadway and regional theaters, and on national and international tours as a frequent collaborator with Pig Iron Theatre Company and cofounder of New Paradise Laboratories (NPL). Favorite projects include Planetary Enzyme Blues with NPL, Swamp Is On with Pig Iron and the rock band Dr. Dog, and the English-language premiere of Vaclav Havel’s final play, Leaving, at the Wilma Theater. In 2019, you’ll find McCool out of character performing standup, or hosting Big Mystery Game Show Jawn as the big, anonymous creature from THIS INFO WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

Carolyn Gennari
Carolyn Gennari is an interdisciplinary artist working across video, performance, photography, and sculpture. Using the archive as source material, her practice is heavily research-based and explores how storytelling can generate new ways of thinking about the past. In her work, dominant historical narratives are questioned through a process of fragmentation, imitation, and re-imagination. Gennari received her MFA from Stamps School of Art & Design, and her MA certificate in Museum Studies from the University of Michigan. She has exhibited in the United States and abroad including shows at the RISD Museum in Providence, RI, The Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn, NY, and the EL Balcón, Central de Abastos in Oaxaca, Mexico. Gennari is the recipient of numerous awards and grants including the Rhode Island Council on the Arts, Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, Rackham Research Grant, Center for the Education of Women, and the Jean Paul Slusser Award. She lives and works in Central Falls, RI.

Jenna Horton
Jenna Horton is a maverick freelance performer/creator vibrating between the ordinary and the absurd. Based in Philadelphia, she has collaborated with Annie Wilson (Lovertits), Team Sunshine (¡Bienvenidos Blancos!, The Sincerity Project), SwimPony, (The End), Headlong (The Quiet Circus), the Berserker Residents (The Giant Squid), Lightning Rod Special (Let the Dog See the Rabbit), and Applied Mechanics (Vainglorious). She has acted with local companies including EgoPo, Shakespeare in Clark Park, Theatre Ariel, Inis Nua, and serves as a tour guide for Hidden City’s Subterranean Philly: What Lies Beneath. She is an alumna of Headlong Performance Institute and has written for thINKingDance.

Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society
Joshua Abrams is a composer, bassist, and improviser. Throughout his career he has recorded and toured with a remarkable range of artists that include extended engagements with Fred Anderson, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Hamid Drake, Theaster Gates, Neil Michael Haggerty, Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Mike Reed, Matana Roberts, and The Roots. Abrams appears on more than 100 recordings and scored the music for numerous feature length films including four documentaries by Steve James: The Interrupters, Life Itself, Abacus: Small Enough To Jail, and America To Me. He co-founded the “back-porch minimalist” band Town & Country, and with Matana Roberts and Chad Taylor, the jazz trio Sticks & Stones. Abrams was a 2018 Grants to Artists recipient from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.