On Saturday, March 22nd at 8pm, ISSUE Project Room presents new projects by sound artists and composers crys cole and Maayan Tsadka. Between March 20-22, the organization will present new, live performance scores at their 22 Boerum Pl. theater as part of ongoing activations of their With Womens Work Series.

Canadian sound artist crys cole, who has maintained a longstanding relationship with ISSUE since 2014, returns this March to present an expanded version of her 2021 piece, “Valid ForeverrRrrRRrrr… (pt.1).” Originally created for the With Women's Work series, the piece draws inspiration from Beth Anderson’s VALID FOR LIFE, a complex arrangement of the letter "R" in various typefaces. On this occasion, she will also include an acoustic performance of her piece “keeping the ball rolling,” activating the unique acoustic and material identity of the 22 Boerum Pl. theater. 

Equally interested in environmental sound is Maayan Tsadka. Using botanical and other organic findings, tuning forks and electronics, “Sonic Botany” is an intimate exploration: of the botany surrounding us, of altered time scales, and of multi-layered listening possibilities. Perhaps it's a crypto-botanical sound-travel through imaginary soundscapes, in which tuning forks are used as a tool to explore different sonic properties of various organic artifacts (leaves, branches, shells, bones), which become resonating membranes, or means of natural amplification. The piece moves between a close listening to the complexities of a single sound, to incorporating those sounds into a larger ecosystem—where imaginary soundscapes emerge, alternate and collapse. 

The archive is not neutral. At ISSUE, we strive to help artists expose and redress the historical record and structures of power relating to sex and gender. The ongoing With Womens Work Series aims to continuously activate and grow the accounts of women’s experiences and practices in the avant-garde canon, while honoring the legacy of artists who have built and contributed to it over the years.