(deep) listening with Brandon Lopez

Explore the themes in our current exhibition, through sound with bassist and composer Brandon Lopez.

As a musical experimentalist, Lopez is passionate about transcending sonic limitations and finds interest in locating new and exciting possibilities with his chosen instrument, the double bass. For this (deep) listening session, Lopez’s solo performance will highlight Cheng’s interests in improvisation, jazz, and alternative approaches to artmaking.

This intimate performance will take place in ICA's auditorium to invite a spirit of togetherness, relaxation, and reflection. Visitors will also be able to visit the exhibition during special late hours (6 to 9 pm) while still enjoying live music from the event.

***Seating in our auditorium space is first come, first served. Once we reach capacity, visitors are welcome to browse our galleries during the extended hours.

ICA is committed to creating a welcoming environment for all visitors. For more notes on accessibility including accessible parking nearby visit our Accessibility landing page. If you require any accessibility accommodations or have any questions about the program, please contact Brittany Clottey ([email protected]).

Brandon Lopez is a bassist and composer living in New York City. His work deals with improvisation, finding new sonic possibilities on the double bass. Collaborations with the likes Fred Moten, Gerald Cleaver, John Zorn, The Mat Maneri Quartet, Nate Wooley’s “knknighgh”, Satoko Fuji, Zeena Parkins, Ingrid Laubrock and Tom Rainey, Standing On The Corner, Cecilia Lopez, Ash Fure, Joe Morris, Tyshawn Sorey, and many others.

Playing with the New York Philharmonic 2019 season as a featured soloist with the New York Philharmonic in the premier of Ashley Fure’s “Filament” under the baton of Jaap Van Zweden. His solo work has been featured at the Met Museum in a live collaboration with silent films by directors Stan Brakhage and Germaine Dulac. His collaborative work with Fred Moten and Gerald Cleaver was critically acclaimed by publications of note and won Best of Jazz 2022 in the NYTimes. His most recent solo recording won best of 2023 in the NYC Jazz record. He’s been awarded the Van Lier Fellowship (2018) and Jerome Artist in Residence (2020) at Roulette Intermedium, The Artist in Residence at Issue Project Room (2018), commissions from the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation for the recording of SUN BURNS OUT YOUR EYES (2022), 2023 NYSCA grant for the multimedia piece NADA SAGRADA premiered at the Vision Festival, and an award in 2020 from the Doris Duke Charitable Trust.

He is currently an instructor of improvisation and double bass at the New School for Jazz and has taught master classes and lectures at Eastman School of Music and Harvard University.

is the first in-depth survey of Carl Cheng’s prescient, genre-defying work from the 1960s to the present that will transform both floors of the ICA. Cheng began his career in the experimental context of the Southern California art scene and the post-war aerospace industry, resulting in artworks that operate at the intersection of identity, technology, and ecology. Over the last six decades he has worked in a variety of media to reflect on environmental change, the relevance of art institutions to their publics, and the role of technology in society. Because the majority of Cheng’s oeuvre is still in his possession, the exhibition will be an exciting and rare opportunity to animate the arc of his career through a presentation of artworks that are multidisciplinary, ephemeral, material, process-based, and interactive. The exhibition will also be presented at The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center (September – December 2024), Bonnefanten (May – September 2025), and Museum Tinguely (December 2025 – May 2026). Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses is curated by Alex Klein, Head Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, The Contemporary Austin, with assistance from Rachel Eboh, Curatorial Assistant, The Contemporary Austin. The exhibition is organized for ICA by Denise Ryner, Andrea B. Laporte Curator.

Programming at ICA is made possible in part by the Emily and Jerry Spiegel Fund to Support Contemporary Culture and Visual Arts and the Lise Spiegel Wilks and Jeffrey Wilks Family Foundation. Public and Student Engagement at ICA is supported by the Bernstein Public Engagement Fund, Suzanne Weiss Doft & Jacob W. Doft, Stacey & Robert Goergen Jr., Hilarie L. & Mitchell Morgan, the Nash Family Foundation, Joline & David Stemerman, and by Dana McDonald Strong & Mark W. Strong.

Major support for Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, also by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Teiger Foundation, with sustainability efforts guided by Rute Collaborative as part of Teiger Foundation’s Climate Action Pilot. Additional support has been provided by Nancy & Leonard Amoroso, Barbara & Theodore Aronson, Dorothy & Martin Bandier, Carol & John Finley, Cheri & Steven Friedman, Marjorie & Michael Levine, Bryan & Meredith Verona, and Caroline & Daniel Werther.

Host or Publisher Institute of Contemporary Art