Artists Space

Abasement #79

Concert
August 11, 2025, 7pm

Performances by MSHR, Kala, Battle Elf, Endless Season, and David First and Madison Greenstone. DJ Nikki Sneakers. Visuals by Wavefield. Projections by Bradley Eros.

Magazine cut-outs and ink drawings are collaged together on a background of red and yellow paper. Pieces of beige paper with typewritten text listing the performers and event details are scattered around the flyer.
Flyer by Joe Frivaldi. [Magazine cut-outs and ink drawings are collaged together on a background of red and yellow paper. Pieces of beige paper with typewritten text listing the performers and event details are scattered around the flyer.]

Abasement is a music series featuring performances, a guest DJ, and a projectionist. Beginning in 2015 at Max Fish bar in New York's Lower East Side, the evening brings together artists and bands working in free improvisation, jazz, noise, minimalism, and experimental composition. When Max Fish permanently closed due to Covid, one of the few experimental music venues in Manhattan temporarily ceased to exist. Artists Space is pleased to continue hosting Abasement.

Two performers are on stage, the performer on the left side blows into a long woodwind instrument. The performer on the right sits behind a desk on top of which is a large pile of audio equipment. The stage and wall behind it are bathed in blue light, created from projections of a geometric pattern.
Abasement #79. Performance documentation, August 11th, 2025, Artists Space. Photo: Joshua Wildman. [Two performers are on stage, the performer on the left side blows into a long woodwind instrument. The performer on the right sits behind a desk on top of which is a large pile of audio equipment. The stage and wall behind it are bathed in blue light, created from projections of a geometric pattern.]
A performer sits behind a white desk, on top of which are piled various audio equipment.
Abasement #79. Performance documentation, August 11th, 2025, Artists Space. Photo: Joshua Wildman. [A performer sits behind a white desk, on top of which are piled various audio equipment.]
Two performers stand side by side on stage. One performer plays a brass instrument and the other a woodwind instrument. The performers and room are bathed in colorful light, created from a projection of a geometric pattern of green, blue, and red stripes.
Abasement #79. Performance documentation, August 11th, 2025, Artists Space. Photo: Joshua Wildman. [Two performers stand side by side on stage. One performer plays a brass instrument and the other a woodwind instrument. The performers and room are bathed in colorful light, created from a projection of a geometric pattern of green, blue, and red stripes.]
Two performers stand side by side on stage. One performer plays a brass instrument and the other a woodwind instrument. They are bathed in a red-orange light, created from a projection.
Abasement #79. Performance documentation, August 11th, 2025, Artists Space. Photo: Joshua Wildman. [Two performers stand side by side on stage. One performer plays a brass instrument and the other a woodwind instrument. They are bathed in a red-orange light, created from a projection.]
A performer sits on stage, playing a double-neck guitar.
Abasement #79. Performance documentation, August 11th, 2025, Artists Space. Photo: Joshua Wildman. [A performer sits on stage, playing a double-neck guitar.]
A band of three performers sit on stage. From left to right the performers play: a double-neck guitar, drums, and a bass of guitar. The room and stage is bathed in a green and white light, created from a projection.
Abasement #79. Performance documentation, August 11th, 2025, Artists Space. Photo: Joshua Wildman. [A band of three performers sit on stage. From left to right the performers play: a double-neck guitar, drums, and a bass of guitar. The room and stage is bathed in a green and white light, created from a projection.]
Two performers are on a stage, batehd in purple light. On the left, a performer plays the guitar and on the right, someone else plays the drums.
Abasement #79. Performance documentation, August 11th, 2025, Artists Space. Photo: Joshua Wildman. [Two performers are on a stage, batehd in purple light. On the left, a performer plays the guitar and on the right, someone else plays the drums.]
Two performers stand in the middle of a crowd, in a darkened basement. A red light casts a glow over the performers from their audio set-up in the middle of the room.
Abasement #79. Performance documentation, August 11th, 2025, Artists Space. Photo: Joshua Wildman. [Two performers stand in the middle of a crowd, in a darkened basement. A red light casts a glow over the performers from their audio set-up in the middle of the room.]
Two performers stand in the middle of a crowd in a darkened basement. A white light emanates from the table in between the performers, which also holds all of their audio equipment. The performers are bent over the table, manipulating the equipment.
Abasement #79. Performance documentation, August 11th, 2025, Artists Space. Photo: Joshua Wildman. [Two performers stand in the middle of a crowd in a darkened basement. A white light emanates from the table in between the performers, which also holds all of their audio equipment. The performers are bent over the table, manipulating the equipment.]

David First and Madison Greenstone met after a performance that Greenstone had played in. As fate would have it, Greenstone had just recently heard one of First’s albums. Their conversion immediately ran to a deep and common ground and plans were made to get together to play. The very next day First saw Robert Mayson who asked what he’d been up to. First sent Mayson an excerpt of the recording he and Greenstone made and here we are..

Madison Greenstone is a clarinetist, writer, and member of TAK Ensemble. Their solo practice, exstatic resonances, explores phenomenological, material and spatial expressivities of sound through richly noisy timbral actions. This practice is documented on their debut album Resonance Studies in Ecstatic Consciousness, released on Relative Pitch Records. Madison performs across the US and internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. They have been presented by the New York Philharmonic, Blank Forms, LAMPO, KM28, ISSUE Project Room, the Vigeland Mausoleum, Night of Surprise, and Bangkok Arts and Cultural Center. Madison resides in Brooklyn.

David First has had music released on Important Records, Dais, Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace, Phill Niblock’s XI, Mode (Fall ‘25), and numerous others. He is perhaps best known for his longstanding “Dave’s Waves Sonic Restaurant” audio/video installation which has been presented in Berlin, Belgium, Moscow, The Netherlands, and since 2018 has been open to the public over a dozen times at the Sunview Luncheonette (Greenpoint). First was recently named a New Music USA Creator Fund Awardee for 2025. He has also been the recipient of the Herb Alpert/Ragdale Award for Music Composition for 2019 and a 2019 NYFA/NYSCA Fellowship. Other awards include a Grant to Artists from the Foundation of Contemporary Arts, as well as grants and commissions from the NEA, the Copeland Foundation (in 2010 & 2024), the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust and the Meet the Composer Commissioning USA program.

Endless Season is a collaborative project featuring the legendary maestro Daniel Carter and the rising tenor saxophonist Ayumi Ishito. Daniel Carter is world-renowned for his multi-instrumentalist talents and his awe-inspiring musical innovation. Ayumi Ishito is regarded as one of the most dynamic and creative young musicians in New York’s avant-garde scene. Many believe she embodies the future of this genre, skillfully weaving together sound and imagination.

Three sonic wanderers make up the band Battle Elf: guitarists Gretchen Gonzales & Chris Peters and drummer David Hurley. Their unified electric sound creates universes from ancient dust, telling tales of battles and redemption. Hailing from Detroit, a hub of industry and culture, each member of Battle Elf absorbed the sounds of the world as they grew. They draw from dark memories, pulling energy from CAN, Lee Ranaldo, Sun Ra, Fred Frith, Eddie Hazel, Cosmic Jokers and Ash Ra Tempel... channeling through Krautrock and deep psychedelia.

KALA is a new duo of drummer Ember Vaughan-Lee and guitarist Tashi Dorji.

MSHR is an art collective that collaboratively builds and explores sculptural electronic systems. Their performances and installations integrate electrical signals and human presence, weaving dense networks of causality to form audiovisual environments that babble with life-like current. They explore intuitive and technical gradients between sonic and sculptural forms, using analog circuitry and open-source software to sculpt mutually resonant hyperobjects. MSHR was founded by Brenna Murphy and Birch Cooper in 2011 in Portland, Oregon.The name MSHR is a modular acronym designed to hold varied ideas over time. It can be pronounced as an acronym or like one who meshes.

Nikki Sneakers is a photographer, promoter, and DJ. She has championed and nurtured nearly every aspect of New York’s electronic underground over the past two decades via her involvement in cult parties like Wierd and Nothing Changes, her live music photography, and her work both behind the scenes and behind the bar at some of the city’s most beloved venues.

Wavefield is a collaborative DIY art organization focused on polymedia and video art.

Bradley Eros, as always, (since the very beginning of Abasement (.001), 78+ months, or sessions, ago) will project their "hand-made" analog slides, and/or film ~ all night long! *** "eau de cinema", 'musique plastique', "philosophical jaywalker", "Eros C'est L'amour!"s

Abasement has been curated by Joseph Frivaldi and Robert Mayson since 2015.

Artists Space Venue is generously supported by Stephen Cheng, Allan Schwartzman, and David Zwirner.