Ashcan Orchestra presents a selection of works for homemade instruments and interfaces.
Built from mostly salvaged materials and automated with DIY circuitry, these instruments have been created to expand the possibilities of performer and composer while retaining a certain amount of playfulness and beauty in shape and sound.
The program will feature a new multimedia setting of the recently completed acoustic work variations on a cloud i saw 1 time for two humans, tubular bells, amd bespoke electronics.
Sam Sowydra
P. Spadine
+More performers TBA
Ivana Dama opens the night with In The Shape of (Almost) Anything, an exploration of the invisible forces that shape our perception of sound and space. Through custom-made instruments, analog synthesizers, and capacitive sensors, the performance investigates the relationship between air, pressure, movement, and vibration. Developed in collaboration with research scientist Quentin Bolsée at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, the custom devices transform subtle gestures into sonic experiences, revealing how invisible forces acquire form, presence, and meaning through sound.
“Dama’s iterdpractice complicates our perception of what art and technology can accomplish.” — Elizaveta Shneyderman, Hyundai Artlab
Roulette’s annual Mixology Festival highlights novel approaches to technology in music and media arts, since 1991, and is supported in-part by mediaThe Foundation.
Ashcan Orchestra is a growing collection of homemade instruments, a revolving ensemble of performers, and pseudonym for NYC based composer p. spadine. Seeking the profound through play, Ashcan has been developing a musical language and an accompanying instrumentation to examine and exemplify our shared capacity to create and thrive in spaces parallel to the consumer cult. Presenting ritualistic, mostly bell centric performances of sound and light on stages both spontaneous and institutional since 2007, Ashcan is grateful for each opportunity to shake some joy and/or wonder out of the air.
Ivana Dama (b. Belgrade, Yugoslavia; lives and works in New York) is an artist and researcher exploring the nonverbal expression of experiences shaped by social and political conflict through sound studies and sonic memory. Spanning audio-video installations, robotics, web projects, and performances, her work examines the relationship between sound and space across multiple scales, from microscopic vibrations and architectural acoustics to satellite transmission. She received an MFA in Sculpture from Yale University and a BFA in Design Media Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Dama has participated in more than 40 group exhibitions. Her work was presented as part of Getty PST ART in 2024 and has been shown at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Wende Museum, and the 2026 Immigrant Artist Biennial (TIAB), among others. She has received support from the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, the John Baldessari Family Foundation, the David Bermant Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.
