SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 2025 3 PM
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SO AR + Jhia Jackson
Matt Robidoux
Leyya Mona Tawil
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Matt Robidoux (they/them) is a San Francisco based composer, improviser, and educator interested in the convergence of movement and sound as it relates to free improvisation and accessibility. Their primary instrument is the “corn synth” — (Kinetically Operated Randomness Network) a modular system that interprets physical input from two “ears of corn” sculptures cast in aluminum. Why corn?
“I like to focus on the modularity/ubiquity of corn and this kind of illogical sculptural sound causality as a starting point for free improvisation. The instrument was invented during my residency at ACRE in Wisconsin, where I cast two corn cob moldings in aluminum at a metal pouring workshop in a cornfield. Movement and touch determine the parameters of pitch, velocity, and duration. This makes for an accessible instrument, at once charming and absurd, while also a merging of my practice creating space for unrestricted musical improvisation. The modular environment, configured around two touch controlled aluminum cast ears of corn, is informed by my ongoing work with Pauline Oliveros’ final project AUMI (Adaptive Use Musical Instrument) in direct collaboration with the disability community and multidisciplinary arts organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. The powerful echo and artistic legacy of Mills College CCM (1967-2022) resonates in my design of the corn synth, modeling it after the Buchla 158, the original synthesizer used at the San Francisco Tape Music Center beginning in 1963.”
For more, on their work, visit www.mattrobidoux.com.
SO AR (pronounced “so are”) is a collaborative project founded by Shanna Sordahl (they/she) and Robert Lopez (he/him) using sound and immersive performance to illustrate moments of transformation and intentional interaction. Beginning as a noise duo in 2013, the project shifted to focus on interdisciplinary influences and collaboration upon the premiere of their debut production in 2018. Since then, they have been creating music and projects that draw on genre blending composition and improvisation, the ritual of performance, musical embodiment, and histories of urban and natural spaces. For more info on each artist, visit www.robertlopezmusic.net and www.shannasordahl.net.
Jhia Louise Jackson (she/they) is a movement-based scholar artist who believes art and life are not distinct. She creates visceral, interdisciplinary works that combine her interests in health, art, and social connection like Daddy Matters, rose water sundaze, and of crowns and cages. They have performed with artists such as Flyaway productions, Joya Powell/Movement of the People Dance Company, RAWdance, and Alexandra Pirici. As the artistic director of j.habitus and a current doctoral student in Sociology at UCSF, they enjoy working in diverse communities as a researcher, guest lecturer, choreographer, teacher, and visual artist. She earned her BA in Dance, Sociology, and Ethics from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, MS in Bioethics from Columbia University in the City of New York, and is a current research fellow at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health. Visit www.jhiajackson.com to learn more about her work.