The Ear Pollen Series started at Gallery 378 in 2020. Klimchak curated the monthly performances by selecting 3-5 musicians to perform a totally improvised concert together. The series was just getting started when Covid hit and ended it.
At Atlanta Contemporary, Klimchak has revived the series in a minimalist compact form while retaining the improvised format. For the Ear Pollen Series, Pt 2, Klimchak is performing in a series of duets each month with a different partner and featuring different instruments.
In many ways, the duet is the perfect vehicle for improvisation, as it allows the performers to treat their playing as a form of conversation, introducing new ideas, batting those ideas back and forth, and taking them to new places to keep the dialog flowing. Part 2 becomes a 2 part conversation for the audience to witness and enjoy.
Klimchak is a composer known for his use of electronics & homebuilt instruments. His work has been seen in dance, theater & solo performances around the world. He regularly performs solo shows featuring the Don Buchla designed Marimba Lumina. Only about 100 of this very rare instrument were made. With the Marimba Lumina the percussionist is able to perform live music that would normally take at least 4 musicians. His multi-instrumental compositions are played with 4 separate mallets, six foot pedals and a breath controller. As added touches, his sets usually include 4 or 5 small percussion instruments, some chanting or tuvan throat singing and at least one solo on the theremin.
Praised by The New York Times for her “appealingly melancholic sound”
and “entertaining array of distortion effects,” Alexandria Smith is a
multimedia artist, audio engineer, trumpeter, and scholar who enjoys
working at the intersection of all these disciplines. Her creative
practice and research interests focus on building, designing,
theorizing, and performing with interactive systems and translating
embodied, biological data into interactive sonic and visual
environments. Her research has been presented at AES, ICMC, AMS, SEAMUS,
the Guelph Jazz Colloquium, MoxSonic, and more.
Alexandria Smith is an active performer in New York City, New
Orleans, and Atlanta. As an improviser/multi-media artist, Smith has had
a residency at the Stone NYC and feature recitals on the Future of New
Trumpet (FONT) Festival West, and the VI Semana Internacional de
Improvisación in Ensenada, Baja California. She has been a performer at
the FONT Festival NYC, Improv Night at the Stone, and the Either/OR
Spring Festival. Alexandria is currently an Assistant Professor of Music
at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she leads the IMPACT lab.
Join curator Yehimi Cambrón and the artists behind the exhibitions Piel con Piel and WE KEEP US SAFE for a thought-provoking panel discussion exploring the intersection of art, activism, and collective care.
led by Tatiana Bell (WE KEEP US SAFE) and Maya Wiseman
Register
We invite you to experience WE KEEP US SAFE and contribute to this growing archive of love, resilience, and justice. Together, we are greater than ourselves.
