Wednesday, July 31, 6 p.m.
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Wednesday, August 7, 6 p.m.
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Nelly Agassi presents a new performance within her site-specific installation as part of her Graham Foundation fellowship exhibition, Spirit of the Waves. Developed in collaboration with Ryan Packard and Peter Maunu, the performance title refers to a line of poetry that was inscribed on a bracelet from Elsa Seipp Madlener—who, along with her husband Albert Fridolin Madlener, commissioned the house the Foundation inhabits—that has been passed down through the Seipp-Madlener family for multiple generations. The quoted passage is taken from the stanza “Vom Tode” (“From Death”), part of Christian Fürchtegott Gellert’s 1757 work Geistliche Oden und Lieder (Spiritual Odes and Songs), which was later adapted to music and popularized by both Bach and Beethoven, in 1758 and 1803 respectively.

Chicago-based artist Nelly Agassi (b.1973, Israel) received her MFA from Chelsea College and her BFA from Central St. Martins, both in London. Her work has been shown internationally at institutions and galleries such as The Arts Club of Chicago, Aspect Ratio, Hyde Park Art Center, The Israel Museum, Poor Farm, Tate Modern, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, La Triennale di Milano, and Zacheta Warsaw. Agassi is a cofounder of the nonprofit organization Fieldwork Collaborative Projects and a 2019 Graham Foundation Fellow. She is represented by Dvir Gallery and Foksal Gallery.

Guitarist and violinist Peter Maunu has toured, performed, and recorded with a long list of diverse musicians including Charles Lloyd, Jean-Luc Ponty, Bobby McFerrin, Tony Williams, Billy Cobham, Charlie Haden, Archie Shepp, and Grace Slick. As the guitarist on the Arsenio Hall Show, he performed nightly with legends like Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Ringo Starr, Madonna, Ray Charles, NWA, Public Enemy, and many more. Additionally, Maunu contributed to the soundtracks of film scores including Crash, Bobby, Food Inc., and television shows Chicago Hope, Arrested Development, and CSI New York. Since relocating to Chicago, he has performed and recorded with improvisers Fred Lonberg-Holm, Dave Rempis, Michael Zerang, Mars Williams, Jim Baker, Tomeka Reid, Katherine Young, Jason Roebke, Tim Daisy, Ryan Packard, Nelly Agassi, Avreeyal Ra, dancer Ayako Kato, and many others. In addition, he founded, curates, hosts, and performs at the Splice Series, a bimonthly improvisation series at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago.

Ryan Packard is a percussionist, composer, and sound artist based in Chicago. His sound installations have been featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Defibrillator Gallery, Hyde Park Arts Center, Galeria Labirynt, High Concept Labs, Constellation Chicago, and Experimental Sound Studio. His compositions have been performed by Fonema Consort, Ensemble Chartreuse, Seth Parker Woods, The Morton Feldman Chamber Players, and the AndPlay Duo. As an improviser and collaborator, Packard performs regularly with Nelly Agassi, Dave Rempis, Brandon Lopez, Jasper Stadhouders, Oscar Jan Hoogland,  ZRL (Zach Good and Lia Kohl), John McCowen, Nestle (Cyrus Pireh and Rob Lundberg), ombra di organo (Keefe Jackson and Manuel Troller), Kieran Daly, Jason Roebke, RGB (Paul Giallorenzo and Charlie Kirchen), Daniel Wyche amongst many others. He is in the newest reincarnation of the NYC experimental indie rock band, Skeleton$; Chicago’s Wei Zhongle; and collaborates with the Michael Albert Music Group, Slow Mass and VV Lightbody. He’s a member of Fonema Consort and has performed with Ensemble Dal Niente, Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society, MOCREP, a.pe.ri.od.ic ensemble, Chicago Composer’s Orchestra, Nate Kinsella’s Birthmark and Architek Percussion Quartet as a founding member. Packard has a master's of music from McGill University and bachelor's of music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Image: Nelly Agassi, Untitled, 2019. Photo: Assaf Evron

Please note that registration for this performance is required, but does not guarantee entry. Doors open 30 minutes prior to the event and space is available on a first-come, first-serve basis for those registered in advance. Reservations expire 5 minutes before the event start time, at which point space will be released to the waitlist. No late entry will be permitted.

Accessibility: This event will be held on the second floor, which is only accessible by stairs, and will not be seated. A limited number of stools for those unable to stand for the duration of the 30 minute performance will be available. The first-floor galleries, library, and bookshop are accessible via outdoor lift. Please call ahead to make arrangements.

For more information on the exhibition, Spirit of the Waves, click here.