GRAY SOUND: Hanna Hartman and Olivia Block in Conversation with Peter Margasak
Join us for a Gray Sound conversation between composers and sound artists Hanna Hartman and Olivia Block, in celebration of Hanna Hartman’s first visit to Chicago and her solo Frequency Festival concert the following Thursday night, Feb. 24, with the Renaissance Society (RSVP here, space limited). Peter Margasak, founder and organizer of the Frequency Festival, moderates.
About the artists
Hanna Hartman is a meticulous sonic weaver and one the great originals of DIY sound performance. A longtime Berliner, she is also an extraordinary archivist and cataloguer of hyper-specific sound objects and recordings, with a deep and incisive memory bank going back decades. She has composed works for radio, electroacoustic music, ensembles and sound installations, and given numerous performances all over the world. Her many awards and grants includes the Karl-Sczuka-Preis, the Phonurgia Nova Prize, a Villa Aurora grant and the Rosenberg Prize. From 2007–08 she was Composer-in-Residence at the Swedish Radio, and in 2019 at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Catch a glimpse of Hartman’s singular work here.
Olivia Block, a staple of the Chicago new music-and-sound scene, is also an internationally renowned media artist, composer, and performer whose audio-visual installations, live sets, recordings, cinematic sound designs, and scores for orchestra and chamber music have helped define the soundscape here and well beyond. She is an instructor at The School of the Art Institute in the Sound Department, and at Northwestern University in the Sound Arts and Industries program. Block’s installation work reflects her interests in site specificity, ethnographic sound, architecture, and found/archival materials. She is currently working on installations which combine animal architecture, sound installation and landscape architecture. Her new album, Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea (Room40) was deemed “Contemporary Album of the Month” (November, 2021) by Jennifer Lucy Allan in The Guardian, and Bandcamp’s “Album of the Day” by Marc Masters.
Covid Safety Protocols
This is an in-person event. Masks must be worn by all in attendance. Guests over the age of 5 must provide either proof of vaccination, a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of the event, proof of a positive COVID-19 test within 14-90 days of the event with affirmation that you are not experiencing any symptoms, or a valid University of Chicago ID (UCID). Additional information about UChicago Arts COVID-19 safety protocols can be found by clicking here and further clicking on the Health and Safety Protocols dropdown.