On the occasion of the artist’s 92nd birthday, experimental electronic music duo Matmos respond to Yoko Ono’s groundbreaking collection of instructional artworks in Grapefruit, first self-published in Tokyo in 1964. Using this foundational anthology of poetic, conceptual, and often performative prompts, Matmos will activate a selection of the objects and actions described in Ono’s text pieces, including: chewing gum, whispers, stones, masks, maps, smells, mirrors, water, sticks, alarms, flutes, pencils, tape, eggtimers, gauze and tuna fish sandwiches. Playing these objects, sampling and manipulating their sounds, enacting Ono’s prompts and constructing new forms in real time out of these everyday materials, “Fresh Squeezed Grapefruit” presses a single question with affection and rigor: what happens when we overlay 1964 onto 2025?
ABOUT THE ARTIST
MATMOS
Based in Baltimore, Matmos is Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt. For the past 30 years, they have made playful, complex electronic music out of wildly unusual sources, including liposuction surgery, rat cages, tanks of helium, Bibles, latex fetish clothing, solid gold coins, silicon breast implants, and their own washing machine. A partial list of musical collaborators includes Bjork, The Kronos Quartet, Terry Riley, Marshall Allan (Sun Ra Arkestra), Anohni, Yo La Tengo, and Oneohtrix Point Never. Their most recent albums include Regards / Uklony dla Boguslaw Schaeffer (Thrill Jockey, 2022), a manipulation of the Polish electroacoustic composer’s works, and Return to Archive, a transformation of the nature, science and field recordings in the back catalog of the Folkways label (Smithsonian Folkways, 2023).
PRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Jeff Carey Matmos Sound Technician
Andrew Lulling, Max Helburn Production Audio
Dan Santamaria Production Video
Cassey Kivnick, Eoghan Hartley Stage Managers
Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University
Five Ohm Productions
Premier Stagehands
Trees by Hardscrabble Farms
Planters by Urban Garden Center
Liam O’Malley Davy
Odeum Labor Services
MAKING SPACE AT THE ARMORY FRESH SQUEEZED
GRAPEFRUIT
saturday, february 15, 2025 at 8:00pm
veterans room featuring experimental electronic music duo Matmos performing works inspired by Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit (1964) as well as an interpretation of Yoko Ono’s Sky Piece to Jesus Christ (1965) with violist Reid Schuncke and cellists Noa Koffman-Adsit, Theodora Fort, and Marie Carroll
Citi and Bloomberg Philanthropies are Park Avenue Armory’s 2025 Season Sponsors. Leadership support for the Armory’s artistic programming has been generously provided by the Charina Endowment Fund, Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, the Pinkerton Foundation, and the Thompson Family Foundation.
Major support was also provided by the Emily Davie and Joseph S. Kornfeld Foundation, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Marc Haas Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and Wescustogo Foundation. Additional support has been provided by the Armory’s Artistic Council. Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature as well as the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council under the leadership of Speaker Adrienne Adams. Making Space at the Armory is made possible with support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF).
PUBLIC SUPPORT
SEASON SPONSORS
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
ALICIA HALL MORAN
Alicia Hall moran (mezzo-soprano) has released two critically acclaimed albums—Heavy Blue and Here Today—with a third, COLDBLOODED, coming 2025. She’s recently collaborated on ice with Ice Theatre of New York, Figure Skating in Harlem, visual artist Christopher Myers, Lyric Opera of the North, Bryant Park, back-flipping Olympian Surya Bonaly, MassMoCA, National Sawdust, Jerome Hill Artist Foundation, and a plethora of poets, musicians, actors, and dancers. Moran’s nuanced, awardwinning performances—on stages ranging from the Symphony orchestra to Broadway, from the club and the bandstand to the museum, from feature film to performance art and beyond—exhibit passion and daring. As composer, vocalist and collaborator, Moran skates between worlds.
SARAH FRANCE
Sarah France is a multi-disciplinary artist based in New York City who has extended her lifelong fascinations with movement and creativity into working as a professional figure skater, dancer, choreographer, aerialist, visual artist, musician, and author. She currently performs with the Ice Theatre of New York and The Equus Projects. Moving through space and emotional expression in choreography have been a deep internal drive she has pursued throughout her life. France is internationally regarded for her knowledge of skating skill development and on ice choreography. She is proud to represent her intersectional communities as an LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, and disabled artist.
NATHAN KOCI
Nathan Koci is a music director and collaborative performer working across disciplines. Music direction credits: Illinoise (Justin Peck/Sufjan Stevens), Hadestown (Nat’l Tour; Anais Mitchel/Rachel Chavkin), Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma!, Most Happy in Concert, Ted Hearne’s The Source. Performance credits: William Kentridge’s The Great Yes The Great No and The Head and The Load; Guy Klucevsek’s Bellows Brigade; Maira Kalman and John Heginbotham’s The Principles of Uncertainty; The Solomon Diaries, a multi-volume duo project with composer/clarinetist Sam Sadigursky; chamber-improv-folk quartet, The Hands Free, with Caroline Shaw, Eleonore Oppenheim, and James Moore; and Charleston-based The Opposite of a Train
ELENA MOON PARK
Elena Moon Park is a musician and cultural arts producer living in Brooklyn. She collaborates with all kinds of artists, specializing in new music and music for all-ages audiences. She is Co-Director of the Brooklyn-based arts organization Found Sound Nation, which uses collaborative music creation to connect people across cultural divides. This includes OneBeat, a program that brings together artists from around the globe for the cocreation of original works and the incubation of socially-engaged projects. Park has released two all-ages albums and leads a band performing music for families. She loves cold water swims and trees of all shapes and sizes.
ELEONORE OPPENHEIM
Eleonore Oppenheim is a genre surfing musical polyglot. Current projects include big dog little dog, an acoustic trio with art-pop auteur Glasser and multi-instrumentalist Robbie Lee, and the avant folk-jazz supergroup the Hands Free, among others. She has worked Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Meredith Monk, in Missy Mazzoli’s bandsemble Victoire and Florent Ghys’ Bonjour, with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and indie rock, jazz, and folk artists. She also works as a chamber musician, soloist, recording artist, and large ensemble player. Off -and On Broadway: Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma!, Justin Peck’s Illinoise. Music education work: Face the Music, Kaufman Music Center; Special Music High School. Alumna, Juilliard, Yale School of Music, and Stony Brook.
JAMES MOORE
James Moore is a guitarist, composer, and bandleader. Moore enjoys an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral performer, and collaborator in music, theater, dance, and multimedia projects. He is a founding member of the raucous electric guitar quartet Dither, the whimsical acoustic group The Hands Free, and the sloppy-math/avant-grunge rock band Forever House.
SHAYVAWN WEBSTER
NEW YORK: Off-Broadway: BEDLAM: The Assassination of Julius Caesar; Soho Rep: For All The Women Who Thought They Were Mad; The New Ohio: Beginning Days of True Jubilation, The Strangers Came Today. REGIONAL: Shakespeare Theatre Company: Comedy of Errors; McCarter Theatre Center / Old Globe Theatre: The Gods of Comedy. INTERNATIONAL: One Year Lease Theatre Company Apprentice (Greece): The Birds. FILM: Netflix: Happiness For Beginners; Indie: Flying Lessons. TV: NBC: Law & Order; CBS: F.B.I., Blue Bloods, Instinct; FX: Devs. OTHER: SOCIETY Theatre Company member. TRAINING: NYU Tisch MFA. PERSONAL: Webster (she/her) is a minister of Earthseed.
CARL HANCOCK RUX
Carl Hancock Rux is an American poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, recording artist, actor, theater director, radio journalist, as well as a frequent collaborator in the fields of film, modern dance, and contemporary art. He is the author of several books including the Village Voice Literary Prizewinning collection of poetry Pagan Operetta, the novel Asphalt, and the Obie Award-winning play Talk. His music has been released internationally on several labels including Sony/550, Thirsty Ear, and Giant Step. Rux is also Co-Artistic Director of Mabou Mines, an experimental theater company founded in 1970 and based in New York City, and former Artistic Director of Harlem Stage. Previous Making Space appearances: Archer Aymes Lost and Found Retrospective: A Juneteenth Exhibition (2022) and Hapo Na Zamani (2023).
DJ SPOOKY
Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, is currently Artist-in-Residence at Yale University Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (2023-2024, extended). He is a composer, multimedia artist, and writer whose work engages audiences in a blend of genres, global culture, and environmental and social issues. Miller has collaborated with an array of recording artists, including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Metallica, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Steve Reich, and Yoko Ono, amongst many others. His 2018 album, DJ Spooky Presents: Phantom Dancehall, debuted at #3 on Billboard Reggae.
USTAD KAMAL SABRI
Sarangi maestro, vocalist, and composer Ustad Kamal Sabri is the leading Sarangi soloist in India. The seventh generation of Moradabad gharana Sarangi exponents, Sabri demonstrates profound versatility and has introduced innovations like adding a cello string to Sarangi. He has recorded music with popular rock bands like Massive Attack and One Giant Leap, composed music for Hollywood and Bollywood films, and delivered background scores for documentaries and performance. Awards include: All India Radio Top Graded Artist; “Best Instrumentalist,” Indo-Western Society of Instrumental Music; “The Young Maestro Award,” Indo-Sri Lankan Cultural Council 2000; 2016 Shri Krishna Peace-Unity Award; 2016 International Artist of The Year, Nashville Music City Awards; 2019 New York City Musicians Recognition Award; among others.
MAKING SPACE AT THE ARMORY
DOUBLE BILL: CARL HANCOCK RUX & ALICIA HALL MORAN
sunday, february 16, 2025 at 8:00pm
veterans room featuring
multidisciplinary artist, poet, playwright, and musician Carl Hancock Rux in a meditative sound bath with DJ Spooky and Indian classical music multi-instrumentalist Kamal Sabri , and
vocalist and performer Alicia Hall Moran with
inline and figure skater Sarah France , actor Shayvawn Webster , narrator Carl Hancock Rux , guitarist James Moore , violinist Elena Moon Park , accordionist Nathan Koci , bassist Eleonore Oppenheim , and electronics by LaFrae Sci
Citi and Bloomberg Philanthropies are Park Avenue Armory’s 2025 Season Sponsors. Leadership support for the Armory’s artistic programming has been generously provided by the Charina Endowment Fund, Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, the Pinkerton Foundation, and the Thompson Family Foundation.
Major support was also provided by the Emily Davie and Joseph S. Kornfeld Foundation, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Marc Haas Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and Wescustogo Foundation. Additional support has been provided by the Armory’s Artistic Council. Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature as well as the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council under the leadership of Speaker Adrienne Adams. Making Space at the Armory is made possible with support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF).
ABOUT PUBLIC PROGRAMMING AT THE ARMORY
Park Avenue Armory’s Public Programming series brings diverse artists and cultural thought-leaders together for discussion and performance around the important issues of our time viewed through an artistic lens. Launched in 2017, the series encompasses a variety of programs including large-scale community events; multi-day symposia; intimate salons featuring performances, panels, and discussions; Artist Talks in relation to the Armory’s Drill Hall programming; and other creative interventions, curated by professor and scholar Tavia Nyong’o.
Highlights from the Public Programming series include: Carrie Mae Weems’ 2017 event The Shape of Things and 2021 convening and concert series Land of Broken Dreams, whose participants included Elizabeth Alexander, Theaster Gates, Elizabeth Diller, Nona Hendryx, Somi, and Spike Lee, among others; a daylong Lenape Pow Wow and Standing Ground Symposium held in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall, the first congregation of Lenape Elders on Manhattan Island since the 1700s; “A New Vision for Justice in America” conversation series in collaboration with Common Justice, exploring new coalitions, insights, and ways of understanding question of justice and injustice in relation moderated by FLEXN Evolution creators Reggie (Regg Roc) Gray and director Peter Sellars; Culture in a Changing America Symposia exploring the role of art, creativity, and imagination in the social and political issues in American society today; the 2019 Black Artists Retreat hosted by Theaster Gates, which included public talks and performances, private sessions for the 300 attending artists, and a roller skating rink; 100 Years | 100 Women, a multiorganization commissioning project that invited 100 women artists and cultural creators to respond to women’s suffrage; a Queer Hip Hop Cypher, delving into the queer origins and aesthetics of hip hop with Astraea award-winning duo Krudxs Cubensi and author and scholar Dr. Shante Paradigm Smalls; the Archer Aymes Retrospective, exploring the legacy of emancipation through an immersive art installation curated by Carl Hancock Rux and featuring a concert performance by mezzo soprano Alicia Hall Moran and pianist Aaron Diehl, presented as one component of a three-part series commemorating Juneteenth in collaboration with Harlem Stage and Lincoln Center as part of the Festival of New York; legendary artist Nao Bustamante’s BLOOM, a cross-disciplinary investigation centered around the design of the vaginal speculum and its use in the exploitative and patriarchal history of the pelvic examination; Art at Water’s Edge, a symposium inspired by the work of director and scholar May Joseph on artistic invention in the face of climate change, including participants such as Whitney Biennale curator Adrienne Edwards, artist Kiyan Williams, Little Island landscape architect Signe Nielsen, eco-systems artist Michael Wang, and others; Symposium: Sound & Color – The Future of Race in Design, an interdisciplinary forum exploring how race matters in creative design for live performance hosted by lighting designer Jane Cox, playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, set designer Mimi Lien, and sound designer and composer Mikaal Sulaiman and featuring collaborations with Design Action and Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Juke Joint, a two-day event spotlighting the history of the juke joint in Black American social history and its
legacy in music and culture, including performances by Pamela Sneed and Stew; Hapo Na Zamani, a 1960s-style happening curated by Carl Hancock Rux with music direction by Vernon Reid, and presented in collaboration with Harlem Stage; Hidden Conversations, a celebration of Dr. Barbara Ann Teer with National Black Theatre; and Corpus Delicti, a convening of artists, activists, and intellectuals imagines and enacts transgender art and music as a vehicle for dialogue across differences presented in collaboration with the NYC Trans Oral History Project.
Notable Public Programming salons include: the Literature Salon hosted by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, whose participants included Lynn Nottage, Suzan Lori-Parks, and Jeremy O. Harris; a Spoken Word Salon co-hosted with the Nuyorican Poets Cafe; a Film Salon featuring the works of immersive artist and film director Lynette Wallworth; “Museum as Sanctuary” led by installation artist and Artist-in-Residence Tania Bruguera, curated by Sonia Guiñansaca and CultureStrike, and featuring undocu-artists Julio Salgado and Emulsify; a Dance Salon presented in partnership with Dance Theater of Harlem, including New York City Ballet’s Wendy Whelan and choreographer Francesca Harper, among others; Captcha: Dancing, Data, Liberation, a salon exploring Black visual complexity and spirit, led by visionary artist Rashaad Newsome and featuring Saidiya V. Hartman, Kiyan Williams, Dazié Rustin Grego-Sykes, Ms.Boogie, Puma Camillê, and others; and Seasons of Dance, a contemporary dance salon featuring conversations with “mother of contemporary African dance” Germaine Acogny, Tanztheater Wuppertal dancer Malou Airaudo, and dancers from The Rite of Spring / common ground[s] at the Armory.
Artist Talks have featured esteemed artists, scholars, and thought leaders, such as: actor Bobby Cannavale; architects Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, and Elizabeth Diller; artist and composer Heiner Goebbels; choreographers Reggie (Regg Roc) Gray, Bill T. Jones, and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker; composers Philip Miller, Thuthuka Sibisi, Tyshawn Sorey, Samy Moussa, and Alexandra Gardner; composer and director Michel van der Aa; composer, vocalist, and scholar Gelsey Bell; conductors Amandine Beyer and Matthias Pintscher; designer Peter Nigrini; directors Claus Guth, Robert Icke, Richard Jones, Sam Mendez, Satoshi Miyagi, Ariane Mnouchkine, Ben Powers, Peter Sellars, Simon Stone, Ian Strasfogel, Ivo van Hove, and Alexander Zeldin; Juilliard president Damian Woetzel and Juilliard Provost and Dean Ara Guzelimian; musicians Helmut Deutsch, Nona Hendryx, Miah Persson, and Davóne Tines; New Yorker editor David Remnick; James Nicola, Artistic Director of New York Theater Workshop; performance artists Marina Abramović and Helga Davis; RoseLee Goldberg, Founding Director and Chief Curator of Performa; playwrights Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Tony Kushner, Lynn Nottage, and Anne Washburn; Dr. Augustus Casely Hayford, Director of the Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art; visual artists Nick Cave, William Kentridge, Julie Mehretu, Julian Rosefeldt, Hito Steyerl, and Ai Wei Wei; and writers and scholars Anne Bogart, Robert M. Dowling, Emily Greenwood, and Carol Martin.
ABOUT PARK AVENUE ARMORY
Part palace, part industrial shed, Park Avenue Armory supports unconventional works in the performing and visual arts that cannot be fully realized in a traditional proscenium theater, concert hall, or white wall gallery. With its soaring 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall—reminiscent of 19th-century European train stations—and an array of exuberant period rooms, the Armory provides a platform for artists to push the boundaries of their practice, collaborate across disciplines, and create new work in dialogue with the historic building. Across its grand and intimate spaces, the Armory enables a diverse range of artists to create, students to explore, and audiences to experience epic, adventurous, relevant work that cannot be done elsewhere in New York.
The Armory both commissions and presents performances and installations in the grand Drill Hall and offers more intimate programming through its acclaimed Recital Series, which showcases musical talent from across the globe within the salon setting of the Board of Officers Room; its Artists Studio series curated by Jason Moran in the restored Veterans Room; Making Space at the Armory, a public programming series that brings together a discipline-spanning group of artists and cultural thought-leaders around
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chairman Emeritus
Elihu Rose, PhD
Co-Chairs
Adam R. Flatto
Amanda J.T. Riegel
President
Rebecca Robertson
Vice Presidents
David Fox
Pablo Legorreta
Emanuel Stern
Treasurer
Emanuel Stern
the important issues of our time; and the Malkin Lecture Series that features presentations by scholars and writers on topics related to Park Avenue Armory and its history. In addition, the Armory also has a year-round Artists-in-Residence program, providing space and support for artists to create new work and expand their practices.
The Armory’s creativity-based arts education programs provide access to the arts to thousands of students from underserved New York City public schools, engaging them with the institutions artistic programming and outside-the-box creative processes. Through its education initiatives, the Armory provides access to all Drill Hall performances, workshops taught by Master Teaching Artists, and in-depth residencies that support the schools’ curriculum. Youth Corps, the Armory’s year-round paid internship program, begins in high school and continues into the critical post-high school years, providing interns with mentored employment, job training, and skill development, as well as a network of peers and mentors to support their individual college and career goals.
The Armory is undergoing a multi-phase renovation and restoration of its historic building led by architects Herzog & de Meuron, with Platt Byard Dovell White as Executive Architects.
