Visual Studies Workshop will present an evening of improvised sonic performances on handmade electronic instruments by Pittsburgh artist Michael Johnsen. Sonic artist Matt Wellins (also a Pittsburgh native, currently based in Alfred NY) will open the show, performing with his own custom built instruments.

Media artist Michael Johnsen designs and builds custom electronics specifically for live performance. He has invented an integrated menagerie of devices whose idiosyncratic behaviors are revealed through their complex interactions. He characterizes his work as “an intense focus on observation, the way a shepherd watches sheep”. Johnsen currently works as a designer for Pittsburgh Modular Synthesisers, and is co-founder of the Pittsburgh experimental micro-cinema, Orgone.

Matt Wellins builds self-designed analog electronic instruments, writes algorithmic video software, and fosters an on-going interest in the experimental loft theater of 1970s New York. Occasionally, he performs in front of others – most notably in collaboration with 16mm filmmaker Sarah Halpern – and has done so at venues such as Anthology Film Archives and the Museum of the Moving Image. Along with Michael Johnsen, he maintains the Electronic Music Resource at Ubu.com.

$5 Suggested Donation
Visual Studies Workshop Auditorium
31 Prince Street, Rochester