Monday September 15, 7:00pm (doors)
Transsonic / Monica Duncan and Senem Pirler
Audio/Video/Laser Live Performances
In partnership with Goethe Institut, New York
In Person only
Microscope is excited to present a night of live sound, video, and laser performances by Berlin-based transmedia duo Transsonic and by Chicago-based collaborators Monica Duncan and Senem Pirler. The evening features two approximately 30-minute live sets by each duo.
Transsonic will perform “Fluid Ontologies,” in which their custom laser feedback instruments are used as sound sources through solar panel microphones, and machine learning provides latent timbre spaces. This project by the duo — which was formed to investigate the potential of listening across and in between media — aims to put “space, bodies and instruments into one dynamic feedback system.”
Monica Duncan and Senem Pirler — who have been collaborators since 2017 — will present “Surface Connections,” a live audio and video piece addressing queer space and the artists’ relationships to their own bodies and external everyday objects that are part of the performance. Their interactions are amplified through close-up cameras and microphones.
Because of the extended use of lasers and other technologies that are difficult to adequately capture through a livestream, this event will take place only in person at the gallery.
General Admission $15
Member Admission $10
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Transsonic is a Berlin-based transmedia duo. Since 2018, they have developed new works at the intersection of instrument building, intermedia, new technologies and embodied performance with sound and light. They research and create performances, improvising between lights and sounds as equally important but dialectical musical materials. They have been commissioned by Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Seanaps Festival Leipzig and Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry at the University of Chicago. They have also presented at New York University, Experimental Intermedia (NYC), CCRMA at Stanford University, Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Sonic Lab in SARC at Queen’s University Belfast, Huddersfield, Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, Oxford University, New Interface and Musical Expression (NIME) conference, Klex Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong Arts Center, De Tanker in Amsterdam, Musikhochschule Lübeck, Blurred Edges Festival in Hamburg, Alte Feuerwache in Köln, Experimentik Berlin and Radialsystem Berlin.
Monica Duncan (she/her) is a video and performance artist. Her time-based work investigates sensory perceptions, queer potentiality, and interconnectedness with our more-than human world. Duncan’s video and performance work has been exhibited Hebbel am Ufer HAU1, Frankfurt Lab, zeitraumexit, Komuna//Warszawa, The Kitchen, Roulette, Atlanta Contemporary, Hallwalls, La Casa Encendida, ZKM, LACMA, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Wave Hill, amongst others. She has been a visiting artist at the Atlanta College of Art, Georgia State University, Hunter College, New School, Pratt Institute, Signal Culture, Experimental Television Center, Scena Robocza, Institute for Electronic Arts, PACT Zollverein, LMCC Governors Island and Stoveworks. Duncan joined the faculty of the Department of Music, Multimedia, Theatre & Dance at Lehman College-CUNY in Fall 2019.
Senem Pirler (she/her) is an artist, sonic improviser, and educator. Pirler’s interdisciplinary work crosses over into sound art, composition, performance, and installation. Pirler has exhibited work nationally and internationally, including performances at the EMPAC (NY), Roulette (NY), The Kitchen (NYC), Carnegie Hall (NYC), Mabou Mines (NYC), Southbank Centre (London), Akademie der Künste (Berlin), Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA), Baryshnikov Arts Center (NY), and Montalvo Arts Center (CA). Her work has been recognized by institutions such as the LMCC, Harvestworks, Institute for Electronic Arts, PACT Zollverein, Signal Culture, and EMS Stockholm. Pirler has been awarded a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in the category of Music/Sound in 2022 and the Malcolm Morse Award to honor the work of Pauline Oliveros and Deep Listening in 2018. Dr. Pirler joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in 2024.
Monica Duncan and Senem Pirler have been collaborating since 2017, creating audiovisual performances that investigate everyday objects, concepts of agency and queer potentiality. Their collaborative work has been shown in numerous festivals and venues such as Revolutions Per Minute, Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video & Music, Transient Visions, Light Matter, Athens International Film + Video, Intermediale Festival of Audiovisual Forms, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Festival ECRÃ, Fisura International Festival of Experimental Film & Video, UnionDocs, and CURRENTS New Media Festival. Duncan and Pirler performed their audiovisual performance, “Surface Connection” at the 61st Ann Arbor Film Festival’s Expanded Cinema program and exhibited their work in the LEAF2023 Sync Exhibition. They have been artists-in-residence at Signal Culture (Owego, NY), PACT Zollverein (Essen, Germany), Institute for Electronic Arts (Alfred, NY) and LMCC at Governors Island (NYC). Most recently, Duncan and Pirler were awarded the Harvestworks 2024 New Works Artist Residency for their multimedia performance installation “Tears for Lost Frequencies.”
