TL;DR
Get art and craft supplies delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
Pulitzer Prize-winning Diné composer, performer and visual artist Raven Chacon gave hour-long improvisational performances at Manhattan’s Park Avenue Armory on Oct. 7 and 8, 2026. The performances combined electronics, whistles and field recordings, including sounds of wind, with the traffic and sirens outside the venue. In an interview with Hyperallergic, Chacon discussed how place shapes his work and why he brings recordings from New Mexico into indoor performances.
Diné composer, performer and visual artist Raven Chacon gave two hour-long improvisational performances at Manhattan’s Park Avenue Armory on Oct. 7 and 8, using field recordings, electronics and everyday sound-making objects to bring the sounds of other places into the Veterans Room. The performances were part of the Armory’s 2026 Artists Studio series, and an interview published by Hyperallergic focused on how Chacon’s work responds to place, including the sounds of traffic and sirens outside.
Chacon performed at a table in the center of the Veterans Room, with sound mixers, synthesizers, pedals, speakers and whistles among the equipment. The table also held a turkey call and a ceramic horn. In the Oct. 8 session described by Hyperallergic, he blew a whistle into a microphone, looped the sound and layered it over a rising drone. He cut into the electronic texture with a recording of his own breath.
The performance moved between whistles, screeches and metallic-sounding electronic tones. Near its end, Chacon played recordings of wind through a hyperdirectional speaker, moving the speaker in a circle around himself so the sound traveled across different parts of the room. Hyperallergic described the hour-long session as an improvisation; the report does not provide a complete set list or say that the two nights followed the same sequence.
In an interview with the publication between the performances, Chacon said that when he plays in a city, he often brings in outdoor field recordings, including wind and sounds gathered in New Mexico, where he is from. He said traffic and sirens outside can also become part of the sound he works with. He told Hyperallergic the recordings were not specific to the Armory, but that he incorporates them more often in indoor settings.
How Place Enters the Performance
The performances show how Chacon’s improvised work can bring together sounds recorded elsewhere and the immediate conditions of a venue. Wind recordings from New Mexico entered a room in Manhattan, while traffic and sirens remained audible beyond its walls. In his account to Hyperallergic, those sounds are not merely background: they can become part of the material he works with indoors.
That approach matters to audiences because it makes the performance’s setting audible without requiring the music to follow a fixed script. Chacon described the sessions as improvisations, and the report documents changing layers of sound rather than a predetermined sequence. The contrast between recorded wind, electronic tones and the city outside also gives listeners a way to hear how a work can connect a particular room with sounds gathered in another landscape.
The report’s title, “Raven Chacon Sounds the History of the Land,” points toward a wider theme in the artist’s practice, but the available account of these Armory sessions is specific: it documents the instruments, sound layers and Chacon’s comments about place. It does not establish that every sound in the performances represented a particular historical event or Indigenous tradition.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Recordings Meet the Armory Room
The sessions took place in the Veterans Room at the Park Avenue Armory as part of its 2026 Artists Studio series. Hyperallergic’s report describes performances on Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 7 and 8, with its detailed account focusing on the Oct. 8 session. Chacon spoke with the publication by phone between the performances.
Asked how he brings a sense of place to an entirely improvised work, Chacon said his city performances often include outdoor recordings gathered in New Mexico. He also said that the sounds of sirens and traffic outside a venue may enter the soundtrack he is building. The recordings used at the Armory were not, by his account, specific to the building or its immediate neighborhood.
Chacon also discussed a separate installation in a group exhibition at the Hammer Museum. He told Hyperallergic that works involving soil and dirt in that exhibition influenced his thinking about his own piece, which was placed at the entrance. That discussion provides context for his interest in how materials and surroundings affect sound, but the Hammer work was distinct from the Armory performances.
“When I’m playing in the city, I tend to bring in more field recordings of the outdoors—wind and other sounds from other places.”
— Raven Chacon, speaking to Hyperallergic
portable sound mixer for musicians
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Details Beyond the Two Sessions
The report does not specify whether the Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 performances used the same recordings, instruments or musical structure. It also does not provide attendance figures, audience responses or a full account of the program. Chacon’s comments describe his general approach to playing in cities; they do not identify every recording used in each Armory session.
Hyperallergic’s interview also mentions an upcoming show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Chacon’s use of science fiction as a point of reference. The supplied report does not give a date, title, format or further details for that show, so its schedule and content remain unconfirmed here.
loop pedal for guitar and electronics
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Chacon’s Upcoming Museum Show
The immediate development reported here is the completion of Chacon’s two performances in the Armory’s 2026 Artists Studio series. Hyperallergic’s interview points to a future show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where Chacon said he was turning toward science fiction, but the report does not state when it will open or what form it will take. Further information about that exhibition would clarify how this new reference appears in his work.
For the Armory performances, the next available account is the published report and interview: together they document the Oct. 8 sound sequence and Chacon’s explanation of how place, field recordings and city noise inform his practice. No further performance dates or related public events are specified in the source material.
directional speakers for sound art
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Key Questions
What happened at the Park Avenue Armory?
Raven Chacon performed two hour-long improvisational sessions in the Veterans Room on Oct. 7 and 8, 2026, as part of the Armory’s Artists Studio series.
What sounds and instruments did Chacon use?
The report lists mixers, synthesizers, pedals, speakers, whistles, a turkey call and a ceramic horn. In the Oct. 8 performance, Chacon also used recordings of breath and wind.
Did Chacon use recordings made at the Armory?
Chacon told Hyperallergic that recordings he brings to city performances often include outdoor sounds gathered in New Mexico. He said those recordings were not specific to the Armory, and that traffic and sirens outside can also enter his work.
What is known about Chacon’s San Francisco museum show?
The interview mentions an upcoming show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Chacon’s interest in science fiction. The source does not provide its date, title or exhibition details.
Source: rss
Halloween Picks
halloween
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
