Experimental Sound Studio

We’re ecstatic to announce the lineup for the 2026 OPTION series. June 14: Stefan Gonzalez w/ Ben LaMar Gay & Dave Rempis June 21: Kieran Daly June 28: Neti-Neti (Amirtha Kidambi and Matt Evans) July 12: Backwards Blue July 19: Sydney Spann July 26: Madeline Stepien Aug 2: Christopher Dammann w/ Avreeyal Ra & Ed Wilkerson Jr. Aug 9: Caroline Jesalva Aug 16: Matt Robidoux OPTION, ESS’s flagship performance series, strives to support and connect contemporary artists working across the spectrum of exploratory sound. The series is curated by Andrew Clinkman, Lily Finnegan, and Dorothy Carlos and is a highlight of the summer. You can RSVP for all events at link in bio. Curators: @clink_mane @lil.g.finn @dorothycarlos 2026 Artists: @stefineb @kidominator @matt_evans_online @ssspann @madeline_stepien @edwardwilkerson8 @carolinejesalva @robidouxstille

The 2026 OPTION concert series is around the corner. In anticipation, we’ve added the 2025 performances and post-performance interviews to the Creative Audio Archive. Explore at link in bio. OPTION is our flagship performance series curated by musicians Andrew Clinkman, Lily Finnegan, and Dorothy Carlos. Throughout the summer, we host intimate weekly concerts in ESS’s ivy-covered garden. Stay tuned for the 2026 OPTION series announcement later this week. Pictured: @patrickshiroishi Curators: @clink_mane @lil.g.finn @dorothycarlos 2025 artists: @bcmcband @billdmackay @doyeonmusic @l.u.l.a__._ @vincentdavisdrums @patrickshiroishi @joewesterlund @hotemogf @allen_moore_127 @sharonplaysthepiano

“Navigation: One’s Position (and a route)” exhibition activations continue this Saturday, May 16 with Eliza Fernand. Join us this Saturday for a 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘺𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 with the artist. We will gather at ESS at 12 PM and amble to Rosehill Cemetery as a group The event will feature a new six-channel audio composition by Fernand and a free zine release, with prompts and scripts for our group walk. The audio composition is 12 minutes long, and will be playing on a loop throughout the afternoon in the Audible Gallery. Wear comfortable shoes and weather-appropriate clothing. We’ll have some spare umbrellas, if clouds threaten. And we’ll have refreshments after the walk! If you are not able to join us, call the toll-free hotline 1-833-𝘕𝘈𝘛𝘙-𝘟𝘟𝘟 anytime, anywhere for a variety of guided experiences. Eliza Fernand is a transdisciplinary artist working in sculptural textiles as well as video and sound. A professor of first-year courses at SAIC, sculpture at ChiArts, and queer quilting workshops in their Rogers Park studio, Eliza sees teaching and co-learning as a large part of their creative practice. @eliza.fernand

Applications are now open for the Ryan Deffet Studio Grant, an initiative furthering Ryan’s legacy of creativity, generosity, and collaboration. Link to application in bio. The grant provides free engineered recording studio time to a group or musician working in the Chicagoland area. The goal of this initiative is to meet artists where they are in a recording project, giving them the time, space, and professional resources to complete production on a discrete project. Artists may request anywhere from a single 8-hour day session, to a full 5-day (40 hour) investment, in which they could record, mix, and/or master a complete album. Proposals should consider what timeline will have the most impact on their project. This juried opportunity is targeted to creative, passionate musicians and soundmakers whose project will be positively impacted by being able to work within a recording studio.

The Creative Audio Archive’s Sun Ra / El Saturn Collection includes around 600 tapes spanning the 1950s to 1993. It documents Ra’s creative process across rehearsals, live performances, home recordings, and master tapes, along with lectures and readings that offer insight into his broader philosophical framework. This tape in particular carries little to no information and has blank labels. This was sometimes by design, but often the result of Ra’s relentless self recording practice that outpaced its own documentation. From what is known, it was recorded in March 1969 at Slug’s Saloon in New York City, where the Arkestra played often, and captures a dense ensemble of percussion, saxophone, vocalizations, and keyboards. Listen at link in bio.

Join us Tuesday, May 19 for special evening of music presented by New Music Chicago. OLEA Ensemble featuring Kate Kilgus (clarinet), Alayne Honaker (violin), Marissa Kerbel (piano) will close out their performing season with a program about community and friendship. The trio will perform their foundational repertoire and original commissioned works. RSVP Required. Link in bio. @newmusicchicago @oleaensemble @katekilgus @alaynehonakerviolin

“Navigation: One’s Position (and a route)” exhibition activations at Audible Gallery continue this Saturday, May 9, from 1-4PM. Join John-Michael Korpal at the Audible Gallery for a group inquiry into the arboreal presence along Ravenswood Avenue. Prompts from Korpal’s multi-year “What is a Tree?” project at Warren Park will help us observe, identify, and learn about the trees surrounding ESS. John-Michael Korpal creates inter-sensory works exploring the visceral shared space between art and the viewer. Korpal has exhibited throughout the Midwest, with work featured at the Grunwald Gallery of Art at the Kinsey Institute, Governor’s State University, Hyde Park Art Center, and elsewhere. Korpal has completed the Visual Art Certificate Program from Graham School-University of Chicago, and participated in the Center Program at Hyde Park Art Center. Korpal is a member of the Rogers Park Art Alliance, Chicago Calligraphy Collective, West Ridge Artists and Third Estate Art. @jmkorpal

Last Saturday, as part of International Jazz Day, we continued our partnership with The Forum Hall and Cafè in Bronzeville. ESS was proud to present Angel Bat Dawid, who brought her powerful music to The Forum. Her performance highlighted Sun Ra, and as a whole the event activated Bronzeville as a key storytelling anchor for Chicago’s jazz history through tours, conversations, and performances inside The Cafe & Forum Hall. It was all magical and we’re grateful to all those who came out! @angeltheoracle @theforum43

Huge thanks to the participants and presenters who made Patchbent Season IV a success! From hands-on electronics workshops with Shortwave Collective and Bonnie Han Jones to our partner events with the Pleiades community, this season had a real collaborative and exploratory spirit. We love to see new friendships and projects bloom as a result of these engagements. Patchbent is a meeting place and learning community supporting women, trans, and non-binary people in sound. Presenting curated workshops in sound practices and technologies since 2024, the series has become a cornerstone of ESS’s mission to support artistic evolution and the creative exploration of sound. See you next season! @bonniehanjones @shortwavecollective @pleiadesseries

“Navigation: One’s Position (and a route)” exhibition activations at Audible Gallery continue this Saturday from 1-4PM. Join us to hear the multi-species voices of “𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯” by Christa Donner. In the Audible Gallery this Saturday, we’ll listen to local flora, fauna, land, and water, channeled through recorded readings by Sol Hinami-Mayorga, Kathy Dennis, Katy Kelsey-Morgan, Kristina Isabelle, Gary Morrissey, Sean, Alice, and Caroline Tomlins, Andrew S. Yang, and Margaret Morris. The duration of the full audio program is 25 minutes, and will be playing on a loop throughout open hours. The full project was initiated for West Ridge Nature Park - short walk from ESS on the other side of Rosehill Cemetery. [The artist will not be in attendance for this event; however, if you are on the East Coast this Spring or Summer, check out Christa’s exhibition “𝘍𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘊𝘰𝘰𝘭-𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩” with Andy Yang at the Worcester Art Museum.] Christa Donner is an artist and organizer whose practice combines material exploration and social exchange to move between the emotional architecture of our own bodies and the layered histories of the world we inhabit. As a volunteer at West Ridge Nature Park she helped to redesign its nature play area in 2018. Donner’s work is exhibited widely, including projects for the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin, Germany), The NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (Singapore), Chiaki Kamikawa Contemporary Art (Paphos, Cyprus), and throughout the United States. @x.donner

We’re so excited to work with Dushun Mosley, Kim Nucci, and the entire Outer Ear Sessions Spring Cohort. In 2026, the Outer Ear Sessions will provide 20+ Chicago artists open access to ESS recording facilities and support from a dedicated engineer. OES aim to help artists push the boundaries of their practice and level the playing field for working Chicago artists city-wide. Space to experiment should not be a privilege. The next Outer Ear Sessions application goes lives June 1, 2026. Stay tuned @dushunm @plzsendpzza

Commissioned by ESS between 1989 and 1992, Sounds From Chicago was a series of radio programs featuring audio works by local artists. Program 10 dives into early computer music. Featuring Miroslav Rogala, Richard Woodbury, and Eric Huffman; this selection takes us into the limitless possibilities of sound, texture, and compositional technique made available by this new technology. SFC Programs are now available as part of Creative Audio Archive’s ESS Collection! Explore the driving sense of rhythm, rich sonic textures, and an imaginative use of “found” and ambient sound. Link in bio.