SONGscape at Mission Synths with Matt Robidoux | Creativity Explored

In celebration of SONG, a group exhibition on view at Creativity Explored, join the CE community with musician and composer Matt Robidoux at Mission Synths for an interactive music-making workshop using adaptive technologies and instruments.

During the event, participants are invited to map their gestures and movements to sounds and musical phrases using Deep Listening Institute's Adaptive Use Musical Instrument (AUMI). This accessible technology, originally created by composer Pauline Oliveros, is a software interface that allows anyone to create music with movement – for example, by moving one’s hands or blinking an eye.

Interpreting sheet music drawings by Creativity Explored artist Walter Kresnik and other artworks on view in the exhibition SONG, together the group will play and record an original SONGscape. We can’t wait to see and hear what we create together!

The event is open to all ages and abilities. Eventbrite registration is recommended with a suggested donation of $10.

100% of proceeds go to Creativity Explored programs and services for developmentally disabled artists in San Francisco.

Mission Synths is located at 3026 24th Street, San Francisco, CA

Image: Untitled by Claus Groeger, ca. 2014-15, mixed media and found object sculpture, 3 x 7 x 4 inches

Before the event at Mission Synths, drop by the CE gallery between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM to experience SONG in person.

Learn more about the exhibition, plan your gallery visit, view online, and watch the curator tour ▸

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About Creativity Explored

Creativity Explored is a studio-based collective in San Francisco that partners with people with developmental disabilities to celebrate and nurture the creative potential in all of us. Founded in 1983 by a psychologist and an artist, CE has facilitated the careers of hundreds of neurodiverse artists and serves as a model in the field of art and disability worldwide.

Creativity Explored now serves 130 artists with developmental disabilities offering art supplies, training, exhibition and sales opportunities in traditional and digital media. CE artists have seen their work exhibited in museums, galleries, and art fairs in over 14 countries and have earned over $2 million from their art. Our life-changing programs continue to open doors of inclusion to center the personhood and creative vision of people with developmental disabilities. Most importantly, Creativity Explored is a source of community, empowerment and dignity.

CreativityExplored.org | 3245 16th Street, San Francisco, CA

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About SONG at Creativity Explored

Creativity Explored is all about that sense of discovery. Anyone who has shopped the bursting portfolios in the studio knows the wondrous moment when you find a piece of art that speaks to you.

Guest curators Sophie Appel and Cole Solinger of Delaplane experienced this magical moment when they came across a unique body of work by former artist Walter Kresnik that shared compositional elements with other artists’ work. Join us to experience SONG, an instrumental exhibition featuring eclectic sculptures, melodic drawings, and a cacophonous musical instrument created by teaching artist Victor Cartagena.

Featuring artists Walter Kresnik, Andrew Bixler, Elana Cooper, Ricardo Estella, Claus Groeger, Michael Bernard Loggins, Yolanda Ramirez, Andrew Wong

On view from June 23 through September 3, 2022 at the Creativity Explored gallery.

Learn more about SONG at Creativity Explored ▸

About Matt Robidoux

Matt Robidoux is a San Francisco-based composer, improviser, and community organizer interested in the interstices of movement and sound, accessibility within contemporary music, and the communicative capacities of sonic energy.

In 2017 they established the Adaptive Instrument Ensemble (AIE), a community-based practice focused on expanding the improvising community across abilities, demographics, and geographies. Beginning with a pilot workshop in 2019, Robidoux founded the Prepared Guitar Ensemble in collaboration with Creativity Explored.

Read more about the Prepared Guitar Ensemble project on the Creativity Explored website ▸

They hold a MA in music composition from Mills College, where they studied with Roscoe Mitchell, Zeena Parkins, Laetitia Sonami, John Bischoff, James Fei, David Bernstein, and Daniel Schmidt. Their scholarly work is scheduled to be published as a chapter in Improvising across Abilities: Pauline Oliveros and the Adaptive Use Musical Instrument via University of Michigan Press in 2022.

Matt has performed throughout North America and Europe and has work available on Already Dead Records and Tapes, Null Zone, Crash Symbols, Feeding Tube Records, Mystra, Exploding In Sound, Ydlmier, and Carpark Records.

About Mission Synths

Started in 2020 by Betsy de la Garza and Brian B. James, Mission Synths is an electronic music hardware and record shop based in SF's Mission District, specializing in modular synthesizers and providing a space for experimenting with the latest audio hardware.

Brian B. James is a San Francisco-based electronic music artist working in music technology, experimental music, dance music, and music education communities for over 20 years. Holding an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College, Brian produces and performs under the Entropy Worship alias.