Experimental musicians and turntablists Victoria Shen and Mariam Rezaei are in residence in Studio 1—Goodman to rehearse and record new music developed over the last year, to debut in their April 2025 performance.
Main Image: Mariam Rezaei, Victoria Shen. Courtesy the artists and Météo Festival. Photo: Alicia Gardès.
In the EMPAC Concert Hall, renowned violinist and violist Marco Fusi records viola excerpts and pieces by composers Timothy McCormack, Pierluigi Billone, and others, to be published in a volume of contemporary viola and viola d'amore playing from Bärenreiter Verlag.
Main Image: Marco Fusi, Courtesy the artist. Photo: Alex Matthews.
Claudia Pagès is in residence in Studio 1—Goodman.
Main Image: Aljubs i Grups, 2024 Commssioned by Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana and with the support of Ammodo and Index - The Swedish Contemporary ArtFoundation, with the collaboration of MACBA, IVAM, La Caldera and Hangar. Photo Pol Massip. Courtesy àngels barcelona.
P. Staff’s residency in Studio 1—Goodman asks how we record the excesses of a body. Working with a thermal camera, Lidar, and audio recording designed to capture the body’s sonic impact on a space’s acoustics, Staff generates video documentation organized on principles of scanning.
Main Image: P. Staff, In Ekstase, 2023, installation view, in: P. Staff, In Ekstase, Kunsthalle Basel, 2023, photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel
Being & Becoming, a quartet of creative improvisors featuring Peter Evans on trumpet, vibraphonist and synth player Joel Ross, bassist and bass synth player Nick Joz, and drummer Michael Shekwoaga Ode, are in residence in EMPAC Studio 2 writing and recording new music.
Main Image: Being & Becoming. Pictured (l-r): Michael Shekwoaga Ode, Peter Evans, Nick Joz, Joel Ross. Courtesy the artists.
Korakrit Arunanondchai, Tosh Basco, Aaron David Ross, and DUCKUNIT (DUCKUNIT/Rueangrith Suntisuk & Pornpan Arayaveerasid are in residence in the theater to develop a new work that draws on atmospherics, choreography by Tosh Basco, and video projection. The piece is staged using a reverse orientation of the theater to activate the venue’s architecture as part of the work.
Main Image: Installation view of Korakrit Arunanondchai, Sing Dance Cry Breathe | as their world collides on to the screen, Museum MACAN, Jakarta, 2024. Courtesy of artist, Bangkok CityCity Gallery (Bangkok), Kukje Gallery (Seoul/Busan), Carlos/Ishikawa (London), and C L E A R I N G (New York/Los Angeles).
Jack Ferver and Jeremy Jacob are in residence in the EMPAC Theater to develop new material for the commissioned work My Town. Across two residencies, they develop scenography and lighting, and integrate Ferver’s choreography with projected video developed by Jacob. The residencies also support experimentation with the work’s dramaturgy.
Main Image: Performance photo of Jack Ferver in their work, IS GLOBAL WARMING CAMP, and other forms of theatrical distance for the end of the world. Mass MoCA, September 2022
In his residency in Studio 1—Goodman, DeForrest Brown Jr. tests and records material for a new album project Rhythmanalytics. Brown is developing virtual instruments and building out a sonic toolkit for the album. His process orients itself towards capturing sound’s motion within the studio, using the venue itself as part of his instrumentation.
Main Image: Deforrest Brown, 2022. Photo: EMPAC / Michael Valiquette.
During a residency in the EMPAC Theater, composer Natacha Diels and JACK Quartet create new video documentation for Diels’s multimedia work Beautiful Trouble (2024).
Main Image: Video still, Beautiful Trouble, 2024. Roulette Intermedium. Courtesy the artists.
Beautiful Trouble at Roulette in 2024.
The Theater as seen from center stage.
EMPAC building tours take visitors behind the scenes to experience the center’s infrastructure as few do. Each one is hosted by an EMPAC staff member with a different area of expertise—so whether you attend one or all this season, there’s always something new to learn and discover.
Join us! EMPAC Tours are offered at no cost and begin in the Main Lobby. Please register in advance and plan to arrive 15 minutes before tour start time. Each tour runs approximately 90 minutes.
Each of EMPAC’s performance spaces were designed as a blank canvas, endlessly customizable according to the needs of its diverse productions. In this tour, Music Curator Amadeus Julian Regucera discusses the acoustic and visual potential of each venue for the making of complex artworks, with stories from recent productions.
Join Jonas Braasch, associate director for research, for a tour highlighting the center’s architectural acoustics and learn how the EMPAC panorama screen system led to the development of the Rensselaer CRAIVE-Lab (Collaborative Research Augmented Immersive Virtual Environment).
Join Todd Vos, lead audio engineer, for this deep dive into EMPAC's acoustic design and production systems. Audiophiles and novices will explore the facility's infrastructure and have their questions answered as the tour moves through the building's production and performance spaces and evolving technologies.