Elastic Arts

Elastic Arts The Elastic Arts Foundation (EAF) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization focusing on music - art

There’s a ton in store for Pleiades Series in 2026. But first, we jam. Join us for the annual Pleiades Series Jan Jam on...
01/06/2026

There’s a ton in store for Pleiades Series in 2026. But first, we jam. Join us for the annual Pleiades Series Jan Jam on Monday the 12th!

Tonight’s the night for all femme/trans/non-binary artists to join us at Elastic and participate in an all-night jam session! We’ll get your name on a list and decide upon small ensembles on the spot. You can sign up by emailing [email protected] or just show up. All levels of musicianship welcome! We can’t wait to see you for the 4th Annual JAN JAM! 8pm on 1/12/26!

01/05/2026

Our first week of 2026 really has all the goodness, and we’re inviting you to attend, but also to JAM! Thursday is an open improv jam with a hot house band, Friday has a special CLEAT Series w/ Lia Kohl + Big Pal, Saturday we have visitors Andrea Parkins + Eliad Wagner. Sunday we’ll help launch a book with an ecstatic dance party and live reading, then Monday is our annual Pleiades Series JAN JAM! Let’s take this year by the horns and dig into the deepest of zones here at Elastic Arts! We can’t wait to see you!

THURSDAY JANUARY 8 | 8:30 PM
Improvised Music Series: Open Jam + Dan Merlo Quartet

FRIDAY JANUARY 9 | 8:00 PM
CLEAT Series: Lia Kohl, Big Pal / The Little Stream / Stephan Moore

SATURDAY JANUARY 10 | 8:00 PM
Elastro Series: Andrea Parkins / Eliad Wagner, Zoning Anne Liao

SUNDAY JANUARY 11 | 7:00 PM
‘E’ Launch Party - A Book Release Celebration

MONDAY JANUARY 12 | 8:00 PM
Pleiades Series: JAN JAM!

The Improvised Music Series kicks off 2026 with an invitation to our community of music makers! Following an opening hou...
01/05/2026

The Improvised Music Series kicks off 2026 with an invitation to our community of music makers! Following an opening house band set we’ll put together rotating small sets of performers to get new sounds and connections going in the new year.

Tonight’s house band is a heavy-hitting quartet lead by Dan Merlo, a versatile trombonist who’s performed with acts across the spectrum of Chicago creative music, from Vincent Davis’ bands to the Windy City Ramblers, appearing as a side man for Ivan Singh Blues Band and Rick King’s Royal Hustle, and a long standing member of Environmental Encroachment. We’ll get started with Dan’s quartet at 8:30pm. See you Thursday!

8:30 pm -
Dan Merlo -  trombone 
Micah Collier - bass
Leon Lewis-Nicol - piano
Vincent Davis - drums

9:30 pm -
New Years’ Jam; open ad hoc sets - all jammers granted free admission to the show!

Our first Elastro series of the year January 10th features the visiting duo of Andrea Parkins + Eliad Wagner, and a solo...
01/02/2026

Our first Elastro series of the year January 10th features the visiting duo of Andrea Parkins + Eliad Wagner, and a solo presentation from Zouning Anne Liao. Andrea Parkins’ and Eliad Wagner’s electroacoustic duo tumbles through a thicket of sonic densities, fusing sounding objects — a sliver of stone, a bell on a string, a spring in a chamber — with electronic tones, rhythms, and noise. The artists focus on gesture as a foundation for composition and improvisation — shaping their music through haptic interaction, careful listening, and the spontaneous “invention of instruments” through playful engagement with their materials.

Zouning Anne Liao will present two fixed media pieces this evening. First is Dust Storm (6 minutes) inspired by the chaotic energy and fine particulate detail of a dust storm. Dust storms are violent yet mesmerizing phenomena—walls of wind-borne earth that reshape both landscape and perception. This piece evokes their inherent duality: the overwhelming, kinetic turbulence they unleash and the microscopic precision of the dust itself, suspended and endlessly shifting. On a metaphorical level, the work reflects on erosion—not only of land, but of memory, identity, and form. As in a dust storm, boundaries blur. Sound becomes sediment. Structure is worn down until only traces remain.

Second is States of Water, i. Prologue (5 minutes). Prologue, the opening movement of this work invites the listener into an immersive and magnified world— one in which the familiar substance of water becomes both material and metaphor. While the piece is rooted in the observable states of water, it approaches them in an abstract and imaginative way: not as literal depictions, but as points of departure from which sound and image can drift, distort, and transform.

Join us Saturday January 10th!

At our first CLEAT Series of 2026 we welcome solo cello/electronics artist Lia Kohl to the system for the first time, al...
12/29/2025

At our first CLEAT Series of 2026 we welcome solo cello/electronics artist Lia Kohl to the system for the first time, along with the return of Big Pal in collaboration with The Little Streams and series curator Stephan Moore.

We’re very excited for this first time collaboration between experimental pop band Big Pal, dance company The Little Streams, and electronic improviser Stephan Moore, who are creating new multichannel and multimedia work featuring choreography and music sequenced by card game mechanics.

Lia Kohl is no stranger to Elastic Arts, and we’re excited for her to finally bring her unique blend of abstract electronics and cello to the 16 channel CLEAT system.

Mark your calendar! We’ll get started at 8pm, Friday January 9th, 2026!

Finish up the year with us this weekend at our annual DKV Trio two-night run! This fantastic pairing of journeymen Chica...
12/24/2025

Finish up the year with us this weekend at our annual DKV Trio two-night run! This fantastic pairing of journeymen Chicago improvisers found its roots in the mid-1990’s and has worked actively since that time. It has become an important tradition for this group to finish out the year for us here at Elastic, so we hope you can join us for one or both of these shows. Friday and Saturday! Presale tickets available at the link below.

Ken Vandermark - reeds
Kent Kessler - bass
Hamid Drake - drums

7:45 PM Doors / 8:30 PM Concert
Friday 12/26 + Saturday 12/27

TONIGHT!This evening we host a string-focused Improvised Music Series with drummer Weasel Walter assembling a quartet co...
12/19/2025

TONIGHT!

This evening we host a string-focused Improvised Music Series with drummer Weasel Walter assembling a quartet comprising two violins, double bass, and drum set . Starting the night is Akjai, a quartet with violin, cello, double bass, and vocals brought in by our very own Ishmael Ali. Music at 8:30!

8:30 Akjai
Briana Tong - vocals, poetry
Johanna Brock - violin
Ishmael Ali - cello
Andrew Scott Young - double bass

9:30 Weasel Walter String Quartet
Alex Cunningham - violin
Caroline Jesalva - violin
Damon Smith - double bass
Weasel Walter - drum set

Elastic Arts Visual Gallery Curatorial Residency 2026-2027 Application Now Open! Elastic Arts is looking for its next Ga...
12/18/2025

Elastic Arts Visual Gallery Curatorial Residency 2026-2027 Application Now Open!

Elastic Arts is looking for its next Gallery Curator for the 2026-2027 season. Elastic Arts’ 2,500 sq.-ft. space is devoted to adventurous music, performance, and art. We present roughly four public performances each week that range from jazz to electronic experimental music, EDM, post-punk, noise, puppetry, poetry, and performance art at an all-ages, low-cost venue. The space offers artists a unique opportunity to present work to hundreds of people, many of whom do not frequently attend other galleries or museums.

The Gallery Curator at Elastic Arts is responsible for planning, programming, and coordinating visual art exhibitions from April 2026 through March 2027. The Gallery program presents exhibitions on a quarterly basis, with each running for approximately eight to ten weeks.

In addition to selecting the artists, the Gallery Curator is responsible for creating/gathering support materials for promoting events, including a critical essay/review/interview for each show to be included in our quarterly printed Graphic Notes publication. The Gallery Curator is responsible for leading the installation and de-installation of each show, hosting gallery events, and managing exhibiting artists’ participation.

More info and application at the link in comments. Should you have any additional questions regarding the residency, please email [email protected]

KEY DATES

Jan 15th, 2026 - Applications Due
Jan 22nd, 2026 - Selected Candidate Interviews
Jan 31st, 2026 - Curator Confirmed
April-June 2026 First Exhibition
April 3rd 2026 - First Gallery Opening Event
Exhibit schedule to continue on a quarterly basis:
July-Sept; Oct-Dec, Jan-Mar 2027

Please complete the application linked in our bio to be considered for the 2026-2027 Gallery Curatorial Residency at Elastic Arts.

Join us this Friday for the opening reception for our new visual gallery exhibition ‘Girlhood 2’ from artists Alexa Guti...
12/17/2025

Join us this Friday for the opening reception for our new visual gallery exhibition ‘Girlhood 2’ from artists Alexa Gutierrez and Madeline Penzel. The work creates a haven of image and memory to invite us to think about girlhood as a space of invention and return. The show will be up through February 2026. Don’t miss it! Reception Friday is free and open to the public - 6pm-9pm!

This Thursday we host a string-focused night with drummer Weasel Walter assembling a quartet comprising two violins, dou...
12/16/2025

This Thursday we host a string-focused night with drummer Weasel Walter assembling a quartet comprising two violins, double bass, and drum set . Starting the night is Akjai, a quartet with violin, cello, double bass, and vocals brought in by our very own Ishmael Ali. Music at 8:30!

8:30 Akjai
Briana Tong - vocals, poetry
Johanna Brock - violin
Ishmael Ali - cello
Andrew Scott Young - double bass

9:30 Weasel Walter String Quartet
Alex Cunningham - violin
Caroline Jesalva - violin
Damon Smith - double bass
Weasel Walter - drum set

TONIGHT!This evening’s Pleiades Series features pianist Laurie Lee Moses and clarinetist Sarah Craft, first brought toge...
12/15/2025

TONIGHT!

This evening’s Pleiades Series features pianist Laurie Lee Moses and clarinetist Sarah Craft, first brought together at our Improv Jam and now performing as a duo. They’re followed by Heavy Tiny (Lia Kohl and Nick Meryhew), a dense miniature world of field recordings, synths, walkie-talkies, and found objects that feels bigger inside than out.  
Following the performances we’ll have our classic Pleiades Jam open to all femme/trans/non-binary performers. Bring your instrument, body, voice! Sign up at mailto:[email protected] or when you arrive.

12/15/2025

We’re closing in on the last events of the year, with a few special nights this week and then the holiday tradition DKV Trio shows on 12/26 + 27! This week we’ll have a cozy Pleiades Series (tonight!), a heavy Improv Series Thursday, and we’ll introduce our new visual gallery exhibition Friday with a free reception. The heat is on and up - come stay warm with us!

MONDAY DECEMBER 15 | 8:00 PM
Pleiades Series: Heavy Tiny, Laurie Lee Moses + Sarah Craft

THURSDAY DECEMBER 18 | 8:30 PM
Improvised Music Series: Weasel Walter/Alex Cunningham/Caroline Jesalva/Damon Smith + Akjai (Brianna Tong/Johanna Brock/Ishmael Ali/Andrew Scott Young)

FRIDAY DECEMBER 19 | 7:00 PM
‘Girlhood 2’ Visual Gallery Exhibition Opening Reception

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3429 W Diversey #208
Chicago, IL
60647

Telephone

+17737723616

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