new rituals.

ONGOING PROJECTS & BANDS

PlayField Band
PlayField Band

Trilogy volume released on label 577 Records (2021). Featuring: Daniel Carter (horns and reeds), Luisa Muhr (voice and non-audible movement art), Ayumi Ishito (sax), Eric Plaks (nord piano), Aron Namenwirth (guitar), Yutaka Takahashi (guitar), Zach Swanson (bass), Jon Panikkar (drums).

Dilate Ensemble
Dilate Ensemble

An audio-visual ensemble, exploring virtual spaces, Dilate Ensemble was formed around a live under-the-kitchen-table installation by Carole Kim (visuals, S. California) with Gloria Damijan (multi-instrumentalist, Vienna), Jon Raskin (reeds and percussion, N. California), Luisa Muhr (voice, NY/Vienna) and Scott L. Miller (electronics, Minnesota).

Now Net Arts Lab Ensemble
Now Net Arts Lab Ensemble

NowNet Arts Ensemble features renowned contemporary musicians and media artists in New York and locations internationally performing together live via the internet. Directed by composer and conductor Sarah Weaver, the NowNet Arts Ensemble performs works by leading composers and artists in network arts.

Constellation Chor
Constellation Chor

A vocal-movement ensemble founded by Marisa Michelson, Constellation Chor's 
performances include Ashley Fure's "Filament" with the New York Philharmonic, Sarah Hennies' "Reservoir 2: Intrusion" as part of Claire Chase's Density 2036 Project at The Kitchen, and performances at Judson Memorial Church.

Women Between Arts
Women Between Arts

New York's leading Performing Arts Series dedicated to interdisciplinary womxn and non-binary artists, created, produced, and curated by Luisa Muhr at The New School, College of Performing Arts, Glassbox Theater. With the encouragement and support of composer John Zorn and Dean of Mannes School of Music, Richard Kessler.

FENGARI Works
FENGARI Works

FENGARI Works creates interdisciplinary theater, installation, and performance work and was founded by Luisa Muhr and James Leaf in June 2015. After the sudden death of James Leaf FENGARI Works has been mostly dedicated to producing New York's experimental/avant-garde interdisciplinary performance series Women Between Arts.

IN THE WORKS / UPCOMING

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Mephista Vienna Tour
Explorations in Duo with Gloria Damijan

Luisa will present her new interdisciplinary piece-in-progress "Mephista", based on Muhr's graphic score with text from Goethe's "Faust". This will be a live-exploration and collaboration with Vienna-based multi-instrumentalist
Gloria Damijan.

Kunstbetrieb: 7/12 (7pm CET)
Vekks: 7/14 (7:30pm doors, 8pm CET start)
Rhiz: 8/6 (two sets, 9pm CET start)

MORE

  • new studio record release with band PlayField (2023)

  • co-creation of a new opera with six-times Grammy winning composer Arturo O'Farrill

  • Artist Residency in Alaska

  • Hold to the Now installation piece, co-creation with visual artist Suzanne Levesque (national and international)

  • Oscilloscope: solo/duo with theremin (ongoing)

  • New pieces by Dilate Ensemble

  • New creations for small ensembles (graphic scores and performances)

  • Three Sisters, an experimental vocal-movement reiteration of Chekhov's Three Sisters, directed by Peter Sciscioli

  • multiple duo, trio, and quartet improv sets with a wide variety of local experimental musicians (for more please go to NEWS section)

  • multiple other projects on a running basis (for more please go to NEWS section)

ART COMPOSITIONS & CREATIONS

Compositions & Creations
Babəl at Roulette Intermedium Excerpt Loo-Fa
03:29

Babəl at Roulette Intermedium Excerpt Loo-Fa

Originally presented and live streamed by Roulette Intermedium on Thursday, June 24th 2021 https://roulette.org/event/luisa-muhr-babel/ Interdisciplinary artist Luisa Muhr presents Babəl—an experimental interdisciplinary performance piece in three movements that explores the essence of communication. Babəl investigates the human vocabulary of expression that we share beyond language. The piece uses voice, instrumental music, the amplification of ambient sounds, and physical movement to practice a form of communicating that returns to multidimensional expression, past the 2-dimensionality of written and spoken languages, in a ritual-esque installation setting. Luisa Muhr (Creator: Composer, Director, Costume Designer) Performers: Jen Anaya (Voice, Movement) Trina Basu (Violin) Judith Berkson (Voice, Accordion, Electric Organ) Patricia Brennan (Vibraphone, Percussion) Wendy Eisenberg (Guitar) Rebecca El-Saleh (Harp, Voice) Tamrin Goldberg (Voice, Movement) Luisa Muhr (Voice, Movement) Luke Stewart (Bass+) This performance is presented live from Roulette's theater in Downtown Brooklyn.

GRAPHIC SCORES

Babel Graphic Score 1/9 (2021)
Babel Graphic Score 1/9 (2021)

Performed at Roulette Intermedium © Luisa Muhr

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Babel Graphic Score 2/9 (2021)
Babel Graphic Score 2/9 (2021)

Performed at Roulette Intermedium © Luisa Muhr

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Archetypes (2020)
Archetypes (2020)

Created after C. G. Jung's archetypes and the astrological radix. Performed at Outpost Artist Resource with Wendy Eisenberg. © Luisa Muhr

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Babel Graphic Score 1/9 (2021)
Babel Graphic Score 1/9 (2021)

Performed at Roulette Intermedium © Luisa Muhr

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LISTEN

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VOL. 1, 2, 3: PlayField
Trilogy Release (2021)

by PlayField

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Released by 577 Records

​

Order now!

​

Daniel Carter: Horns and Reeds
Luisa Muhr: Voice
Ayumi Ishito: Sax
Eric Plaks: Nord piano
Aron Namenwirth: Guitar
Yutaka Takahashi: Guitar
Zach Swanson: Bass
Jon Panikkar: Drums

​

LEARN MORE
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RECORDINGS

PlayField
PlayField

Vol. 1: Sonar released on label 577 Records (March 20, 2021). Daniel Carter (horns and reeds), Luisa Muhr (voice and non-audible movement art), Ayumi Ishito (sax), Eric Plaks (nord piano), Aron Namenwirth (guitar), Yutaka Takahashi (guitar), Zach Swanson (bass), Jon Panikkar (drums). Bandcamp

PlayField
PlayField

Vol. 2: The Middle released on label 577 Records (April 17, 2021). Daniel Carter (horns and reeds), Luisa Muhr (voice and non-audible movement art), Ayumi Ishito (sax), Eric Plaks (nord piano), Aron Namenwirth (guitar), Yutaka Takahashi (guitar), Zach Swanson (bass), Jon Panikkar (drums). Bandcamp

PlayField
PlayField

Vol. 3: After Life released on label 577 Records (May 15, 2021). Daniel Carter (horns and reeds), Luisa Muhr (voice and non-audible movement art), Ayumi Ishito (sax), Eric Plaks (nord piano), Aron Namenwirth (guitar), Yutaka Takahashi (guitar), Zach Swanson (bass), Jon Panikkar (drums). Bandcamp

Dilate Ensemble
Dilate Ensemble

Audio-visual ensemble: Carole Kim (visuals, S. California) with Gloria Damijan (multi-instrumentalist, Vienna), Jon Raskin (reeds and percussion, N. California), Luisa Muhr (voice, NY/Vienna) and Scott L. Miller (electronics, Minnesota).

WATCH PERFORMANCES & PROJECTS

Live Performances and Projects
Dilate Ensemble - CATENA: Sound/Image Through a Hybrid Network
31:34

Dilate Ensemble - CATENA: Sound/Image Through a Hybrid Network

As part of the Improvising the Net(Work) residency in partnership with Thoughtworks Arts, CounterPulse’s 2021 Combustible program presents Dilate Ensemble’s CATENA: sound/image through a hybrid network. During this nebulous time of IRL/URL communication, Dilate Ensemble wishes to amplify how we can connect as we negotiate spaces in person and online. As part of their 16-week residency throughout the fall of 2021, Dilate Ensemble worked on developing a local network linking different spaces within the CounterPulse building with electronic musician Scott Miller, based remotely in Minnesota. Sonically-speaking, variables such as amplitude, frequency, physical characteristics of the room, speaker placement or microphones can impact simple behaviors that result in complex layered outcomes. CounterPulse’s upstairs studio and project basement were animated by audio-reactive video projection installations by Carole Kim. For this performance, Dilate Ensemble was also joined by special guest dancer/choreographer Shinichi Iova-Koga. As presented January 13 and 14, 2022, this performance investigated how the imprint of a physical space and the bodies within it can impact a networked ecosystem. DILATE ENSEMBLE Carole Kim (SoCal): video installation, direction Gloria Damijan (Vienna): extended toy pianos, percussion Scott L. Miller (Minnesota): Kyma, electronics Luisa Muhr (New York): voice Jon Raskin (NoCal): sax, concertina, electronics, recycled materials With special guest: Shinichi Iova-Koga: dance Dilate Ensemble was formed at the beginning of the pandemic out of a mutual love of improvisation-based dialogue and a sense of urgency to find ways to connect and create in real-time over the internet. Riding the continuous wave of technological challenges and disruptive restrictions of an evolving pandemic, we are asking questions surrounding how to pursue an artistic collaborative process that pushes the boundaries of telematic and hybrid situations. Are there different ways of thinking about what “hybrid” performance can mean or how it can manifest? What is the nature of the points of connection that bridge local and remote presence? Is the concept of site-specificity relevant to networked spaces? ____________________________________ Dilate Ensemble extends SPECIAL THANKS to: Thoughtworks Arts CounterPulse Theater - SF Headlands Center for the Arts Austrian General Consulate Shinichi Iova-Koga

WATCH EXPERIMENTAL SHORT FILM CREATIONS