TEST PATTERN


 

In an era of information overload, deepfakery, media consolidation, and mass surveillance, is it possible to reclaim the transformative potential of alternative media?

 

The ICA’s hybrid performance series Test Pattern invites visiting artists to use our auditorium as an experimental production studio, inspired by the legacy of public access TV and alternative video movements in the US.

This season, Test Pattern returns with performances by vocalist, composer, and performance artist Holland Andrews (April 07), multi-media artist Raúl De Nieves (June 02), with collaborators Jessie Stead and Sergei Tcherepnin.

During each week-long residency, the artists will collaborate with members of the local community, transforming the ICA auditorium into a space for music, movement, activism, and deep conversations. Each week will culminate in a live performance and broadcast.

Test Pattern presents the public with a unique window into the creative process, to observe rehearsals, participate in live tapings and online streams of the performances, and to later access each episode in its final form.

Test Pattern is curated by ICA Assistant Curator and Producer David Riley.


KINLAW

Reimagining audio from their LP The Tipping Scale as well as compositions recorded in 2022 as an artist in residence at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY, Kinlaw amplifies the sounds of the choreography itself, integrating the movements of the performers into the overall composition. Beginning with gestures, the performance translates intimate memories into movement, spoken word, and sound.
 


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DORIAN WOOD

Dorian Wood (she/they) is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Using subject matter informed by her own perspective as a genderfluid brown person, a child of Costa Rican and Nicaraguan immigrants, and an autodidact, Wood’s intent of “infecting” spaces and ideologies with her artistic practice is born from a desire to challenge traditions and systems that have contributed to the marginalization of people. Her work has been showcased in concert halls and performance spaces around the world, including at institutions like The Broad (Los Angeles), REDCAT (Los Angeles), Museo Nacional Del Prado (Madrid), and Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris (Mexico City).  From 2019 to 2020, Wood completed several successful tours throughout Europe, Mexico and the U.S. with her chamber orchestra tribute to Chavela Vargas, XAVELA LUX AETERNA. In 2022, Wood debuted her tribute to the singer Lhasa De Sela, LHASA, at the Festival Internacional de Arte Sacro in Madrid. Wood is the recipient of a 2020 Creative Capital Award and a 2020 Art Matters Foundation grant. She has released over a dozen recordings, most recently the albums Invasiva (2022) and 2020’s back-to-back releases ARDOR and REACTOR.
 


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HOLLAND ANDREWS

Holland Andrews Test Pattern returns to the ICA auditorium on Friday April 7, with a performance by vocalist, composer, and performance artist Holland Andrews. Their work focuses on the abstraction of operatic and extended-technique voice to build cathartic and dissonant soundscapes. Andrews arranges music for voice, clarinet, and electronics and frequently highlights themes surrounding vulnerability and healing.

In addition to creating solo work, Andrews develops and performs soundscapes for dance, theater, and film, and their work has toured nationally and internationally with artists such as Bill T. Jones, Dorothee Munyaneza, Will Rawls, and poet Demian Dinéyazhi. Notable musical collaborations include Son Lux, Christina Vantzou, William Brittelle, Methods Body, West Thordson, Peter Broderick, Darian Donovan Thomas, and Nils Frahm. Andrews has gained recognition from publications such as The Wire, The New York Times, Electronic Sound, Uncut Magazine, Le Monde, and BBC Radio. Their latest EP Doubtless was released in October 2022.
 


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