(deep) listening with Mind Maintenance and Mikel Patrick Avery

Inspired by the improvisation inherent to Carl Cheng’s practice, ICA welcomes the duo Mind Maintenance and Philadelphia-based jazz percussionist Mikel Patrick Avery for the last (deep) listening session of our current exhibition season.

Mind Maintenance is the duo of Joshua Abrams playing guimbri and Chad Taylor on mbira. This is where the music begins, but Mind Maintenance can’t be described with a summing of parts and players. The songs of Mind Maintenance exist in a zone somewhere between composition and improv. Based in melodies that unspool over time as they move between the two instruments, they benefit from the players’ intimately enmeshed sensibility and the intensity with which they listen to each other.. Mind Maintenance, using old technology (in the form of a three-stringed lute and a thumb piano) makes a new thing for today rooted also in the way of things as they’ve been for millennia. In other words, when these sounds bounce off your cerebral cortex, the feeling you get is that of your mind breathing freely in the presence of something it has known forever.

From his roots as a jazz drummer, Mikel Patrick Avery’s sonic environment contains and interacts with non-traditional objects and ideas. His interdisciplinary background as a filmmaker, designer, educator, and more only colors his musical practice, often reverencing play as an anchor that grounds his musical practice to create a dramatic and dynamic soundscape.

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. This program is presented as part of the closing weekend programs for Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses.

***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]).

Mind Maintenance is the duo of Joshua Abrams playing guimbri and Chad Taylor on mbira. This is where the music begins, but Mind Maintenance can’t be described with a summing of parts and players. It’s not about world music, it’s not about jazz. It’s about mind maintenance. When you put on the sound, you’ll know what we’re saying. How immediate and meditative it is. So simple, so in the room. The natural buzz of each instrument sits remarkably well against the other. The percussive qualities of each, so raw and unadorned individually, form with their shared resonance a soothing, sonorous whole. The songs of Mind Maintenance exist in a zone somewhere between composition and improv. Based in melodies that unspool over time as they move between the two instruments, they benefit from the players’ intimately enmeshed sensibility and the intensity with which they listen to each other. Chad and Joshua have been playing together forever—or, if you need to think of it more tangibly, since around 1994. Sticks and Stones was their first band. They played together on the session for the O’Rourke-produced Alan Licht/Loren Mazzacane-Connors album Hoffman Estates (on yes, Drag City) in ’98. They live in different cities, but play together whenever they can whether it’s with Sam Prekop, Natural Information Society or Joe McPhee.

Now residing in Philadelphia, multidisciplinary artist MIKEL PATRICK AVERY had been actively working out of Chicago and New Orleans for the past 20 years. Established as a jazz drummer, he is commonly recognized for his orchestral and melodic style of drumming that often involves the use of unconventional "non-musical" objects. Adjacent to being a performing musician, Avery is a dedicated filmmaker, composer, photographer, designer, and educator, whose body of work invariably draws upon ideas of ‘unstructured-play’ commonly applied to learning environments found in early education. In recent years, Avery has become an integral voice in varying ensembles, including Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra, Joshua Abrams' Natural Information Society, The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, Kurt Vile, and Theaster Gates's Black Monks of Mississippi as well as leading several of his own projects, including 1/2 Size Piano Trio, Wazella, Sore Thumb, PARADE, and MPA ‘PLAY’. Mikel has had the privilege to perform and exhibit either his own work or in accompaniment to others at a variety of venues and cultural institutions around the world. Most notably at, The Art Institute of Chicago, New Museum NYC, Art Basel (Switzerland), Hyde Park Jazz Festival, The Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), Documenta, Drunk Lunch Gallery, Pitchfork Music Festival, Oto (London), & White Cube (London).

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