Maria Chávez
Born in Lima, Peru and based in NYC, Maria Chávez is best known as the originator of the art practice Abstract Turntablism™ (est. 2000). Abstract Turntablism centers unique physical activation methodologies utilizing turntables, implements, needles, and the breaking of vinyl records. Her approach is rooted in Deep Listening, a form of embodied listening developed by her late mentor Pauline Oliveros. Chávez’s art practice is profoundly expansive, responsive and curious. She is a certified Stockhausen Spatial Sound artist and has previously been a Robert Rauschenberg Arts Fellow and David Tudor Fellow for Mills College in 2016. Chávez is currently a Sound Art Fellow for the Musagetes Foundation at the University of Guelph, where she is currently working on her latest textbook on Ancient Audio Engineering practices. Her sculptures, performances and installations have been featured and supported by many institutions over the past decades, including MoMA PS1, The Getty, DOCUMENTA 14, the JUDD Foundation, Cambridge University Press, E-Flux Press and more. Chávez performs and tours with The Turntable Trio (Chávez, Mariam Rezaei, Victoria Shen) and with the band (Chávez, Shahzad Ismaily, Greg Saunier). https://mariachavez.org/
Roco Córdova
Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Roco Córdova is a vocalist, composer, producer, and improviser based in the San Francisco Bay Area. They possess a B.Mus. in Composition from the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and an M.A. in Composition from Mills College in Oakland, California. Their music has been described as “slow-boiling, apparently timeless” with “an odd momentum of its own” (The Washington Post). Cordova's work fuses diverse influences with electronic media, chance operations, gradual processes, noise, improvisation, and timbral techniques of composition. Voice is at the core of their music making: they incorporate extended techniques like throat singing, overtone singing, falsetto, and vocal percussion into live performances that emphasize the electronic processing of these sounds. As a touring vocalist and improviser with The Art Ensemble of Chicago, they have performed extensively around the world and have collaborated with numerous composers. https://www.rococordova.com/
COLLABORATORS
Adam Rosario is a music therapist (MT-BC), percussionist, and retired US Army infantryman based in Austin, Texas. A lifelong student of Puerto Rican folkloric music, he has shared these traditions with Central Texas communities through performance and education for nearly two decades. www.instagram.com/adam.rosario
Karolina Arocho González is the founder of Pal’ Pueblo Collective and facilitator and dance instructor for Tambores del Pueblo. She has been a Puerto Rican dance performer and instructor for over a decade. Combining her professional experience in abuse prevention and safety planning with years of dance training, she teaches and promotes dance as a coping mechanism to engage communities in healthy habits, collective growth, and trauma healing. https://www.instagram.com/palpuebloatx/
Joey Reyes
Joey Reyes is a cellist, composer, and creative technologist who has scored art installations, restorative yoga workshops, plays, and nature films. His live performances are enrapturing, described by the Austin American-Statesman as “simultaneously soothing and supernatural, and absolutely worth witnessing.”
Fresh off the release of his first full-length album, Spilling Open, Joey Reyes has earned praise from Revolt of the Apes for creating “a record that invites you to sink in, stay awhile, and let the edges between sound and self soften. Highest possible recommendation.” https://www.joeyreyes.rocks/
Collaborator Trey Abraham is a mixed media artist and visual performer living in Austin, Texas whose works often include a mixture of live painting, printmaking, and collage. Trey received a BFA with a concentration in printmaking from the Memphis College of Art in 2012. https://thesuddenkind.com
URBAN-15
As URBAN-15’s co-founder and Artistic Director, Catherine Cisneros has taken her performance company to several international festivals in Mexico and participated in the inauguration parades of Presidents Obama (2009), Bush (2001), and Clinton (1997). She studied in the Art department of the University of Texas at Austin in the 1970s and later in the University of Houston Sculpture department under James Surls as well as the University of Houston’s Dance department under Jennifer Mitchel. She is an established dancer, drummer, and visual artist who has exhibited throughout Texas and Mexico. She is the recipient of the Artist Foundation of San Antonio’s Costume Design Award (2013), Mind Science Foundation’s Imagineers Award (1999), and the San Antonio Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs Choreographers Grant (1992).
George Cisneros (b. 1951, USA), electronic artist, composer and designer, explores an artistic language combining performance, interactive technologies and community work. Based in San Antonio, Texas, his works range from orchestral pieces to sound sculptures and installations; from video and digital projections to public art. A 1981 NEA Fellowship recipient for Conceptual Genres/New Media, Cisneros is the Music and Media Director for the URBAN-15 Group, which he co-founded in 1974. He was awarded the City of San Antonio’s 2019 Distinction in The Arts Award. Much of his work deals with image and sound-based memory collections. Significant projects include NOS UNIMOS PROJECT, an on-line e-Museum; SOMOS – a 6-channel video mural commissioned for El Museo Alameda-Smithsonian; and CACOPHONY, a 28-channel sound mural depicting San Antonio history. In addition, Cisneros owns VuTURE ARTS, a mixed-media design and fabrication shop for commissioned and public artworks.