sugar vendil/isogram will be in Tulsa to share “Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia.” Composed and choreographed by Sugar Vendil. Contributing choreography by Cindy Lan, Marie Lloyd Paspe, Annie Nikunen, and Annie Wang.

Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia is a memoir of a Filipinx American childhood that interweaves music and movement, taking an imaginative approach to interdisciplinary performance and music composition. It investigates the subtle yet profound experiences that shape identity.

By excavating seemingly insignificant but deeply ingrained memories, Antonym envisions the future as an escape from pain and ponders how we can possess painful memories without being beholden to them. Using field recordings of New York City to create a rich sonic landscape, the four seasons serve as a cyclical frame and context for memory.

"Antonym" invites audiences to reflect on their own relationships with memory, identity, and imagining their own futures. Awarded 2021 MAP Fund, 2022 New Music USA Project Grant, 2022 NPN Creation and Development Grant with co-commissioners Living Arts Tulsa, High Concept Labs, and National Sawdust, and 2024 NEFA NTP Creation & Touring Grant Finalist.

sugar vendil/isogram:
Cindy Lan, performer, violinist
Annie Nikunen, performer, flutist
Marie Lloyd Paspe, dancer, vocalist
Annie Wang, dancer, vocalist
Sugar Vendil, composer, choreographer, performer, pianist

From the Queens Museum website, where you can RSVP:

In conjunction with her solo exhibition, to reverberate tenderly, artist sonia louise davis invites musicians Rena Anakwe, Sarah Galdes, and Sugar Vendil to improvise with her three steel instruments, or sounders, for the first of two performances in the gallery space. Performers will use percussion, string, voice, and other experimental techniques to respond to the exhibition’s multi-sensory environment and davis’ large-scale mural, score for Queens Museum (2023). 

davis’ custom sounders reference the organic swoops and geometric linework of the artist’s graphic notation, which is a recurring motif in her work across media. There are strings to be plucked or bowed; a conical bell shape that amplifies the voice; and several resonators, such as hollow tubing, rattles, and cymbal-like discs. While taking influence from free jazz, Guatemalan artist Joaquín Orellana’s custom marimbas, and West African instruments across history, davis’ vivid monochromatic instruments encourage performers to make an original, unexpected sound. For the artist, her sounders level the playing field towards a new kind of improvisation: if you create a never-before-seen instrument, then no one is an expert. 

This performance will be accompanied by a guided free play, where visitors are invited to interact with the instruments in the gallery.

Please note seating is limited and first come first serve. Additional standing room available.

RSVP is required, sign up here. 

About the Performers:
Rena Anakwe is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, poet and healer working primarily with sound, visuals, and scent. Exploring intersections between traditional healing practices, spirituality and performance, she creates works focused on sensory-based, experiential interactions using creative technology. She is based in Brooklyn, New York by way of Nigeria and Canada. Her durational, two-part, public art project “Lifting the Ground Up [iter.02] is currently at Lincoln Center from Fall 2023-Spring 2024. Under the moniker ‘A Space for Sound,’ Anakwe released her album “Sometimes underwater (feels like home)” through RVNG Intl’s Commend THERE Label in Fall 2021. 

Sarah Galdes is a drummer, composer, and music producer. Born in Australia to Indian / Maltese parents, Sarah is currently based in NYC and engages with a wide variety of artists. She has delved into traditional South Korean Samul Nori drumming and North Indian music traditions to further enrich her rhythmic syntax. Sarah performs as a soloist using Sensory Percussion sensors and also tours and performs extensively internationally with artists such as Anna Wise, TEEN, Akwaeke Emezi, River L Ramirez, Overcoats, Efterklang, L’Rain, Lauren Mayberry (CHVRCHES) and many many more. Sarah co-runs a music studio in Greenwich Village called “Synthia.”

Sugar Vendil is a composer, pianist and interdisciplinary artist based in Lenapehoking, known as Brooklyn, NY. Vendil’s work germinates from a kinesthetic and improvisatory approach. A late bloomer, she began making her own work after over a decade of primarily performing as a pianist with her ensemble, The Nouveau Classical Project (2008-2021), and started dancing in 2020. She currently dances in Emily Johnson/Catalyst’s “Being Future Being.” Her piece “Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia,” a memoir of a Filipinx American childhood, will premiere at Living Arts in Tulsa, OK (2024). In 2023 she released an album, “May We Know Our Own Strength,” out on Gold Bolus Recordings.

About the Artist:
sonia louise davis (b. New York, NY, 1988) earned her BA with honors in African American Studies from Wesleyan University and is an alumna of the Whitney Independent Study Program. She is a 2023-2024 Artist in Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Her latest solo exhibition, resonant frequencies, blossoming tones, at Hesse Flatow (NY) was listed a “must see” by Artforum in 2022. She has presented her work at the Whitney Museum (NY), ACRE (Chicago), Sadie Halie Projects (Minneapolis), Ortega y Gasset (Brooklyn),  and Artists Space (NY), among other venues. Residencies and fellowships include the Laundromat Project’s Create Change Fellowship, Civitella Ranieri, New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship at the International Studio & Curatorial Program, Culture Push Fellowship for Utopian Practice, and Stoneleaf Retreat. Her newest book, slow and soft and righteous, improvising at the end of the world (and how we make a new one) was published in 2021 by Co—Conspirator Press, which operates out of the Feminist Center for Creative Work in Los Angeles. Sonia lives and works in Harlem.

Upcoming Performance Date:

April 6, 2-3:30pm: Please note this performance will be followed by a talkback with the artist and collaborators.

In an evening of kaleidoscopic sound and movement, Sugar Vendil demonstrates her range as an interdisciplinary artist. Vendil will share a set of new solo compositions for piano, voice, and live electronics, and a preview of her ensemble piece Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia with her performance group and collaborators, Isogram. While contrasting in scale and form, both works stem from Vendil’s childhood experiences, where boredom and loneliness yielded creativity and self-reliance (e.g., being a sort of one-womyn-band in her solo project) and a desire to reflect on those experiences as a grown-up (Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia).

Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia is a memoir of a Filipinx childhood that excavates insignificant yet indelible experiences and incorporates field recordings of NYC, using the four seasons as a cyclical time frame and context for memory.

Sugar Vendil / Isogram:

Cindy Lan, performer, violinist

Annie Nikunen, performer, flutist

Marie Lloyd Paspe, dancer, vocalist

Annie Wang, dancer, vocalist

Sugar Vendil, composer, choreographer, performer, pianist

Antonym is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Living Arts Tulsa, High Concept Labs, National Sawdust, and NPN. More information: www.npnweb.org. Antonym is also supported by MAP Fund and New Music USA Project Grant. Special thanks to the following organizations for providing development and/or showing opportunities for Antonym: NPN (2023 Development Funds); Mabou Mines Resident Artist Program (2019); High Concept Labs Artist in Residence program (2019) and Partner-Artist-in-Residence program (2023); Movement Research at Judson (2023).

Featured video from ​​Makenna Finch for Movement Research at Judson.

Vendil's new work for piano, voice, and electronics was made possible by a grant from the American Composers Forum with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation.

From the Queens Museum website, where you can RSVP:

In conjunction with her solo exhibition, to reverberate tenderly, artist sonia louise davis invites musicians Rena Anakwe, Sarah Galdes, and Sugar Vendil to improvise with her three steel instruments, or sounders, for the first of two performances in the gallery space. Performers will use percussion, string, voice, and other experimental techniques to respond to the exhibition’s multi-sensory environment and davis’ large-scale mural, score for Queens Museum (2023). 

davis’ custom sounders reference the organic swoops and geometric linework of the artist’s graphic notation, which is a recurring motif in her work across media. There are strings to be plucked or bowed; a conical bell shape that amplifies the voice; and several resonators, such as hollow tubing, rattles, and cymbal-like discs. While taking influence from free jazz, Guatemalan artist Joaquín Orellana’s custom marimbas, and West African instruments across history, davis’ vivid monochromatic instruments encourage performers to make an original, unexpected sound. For the artist, her sounders level the playing field towards a new kind of improvisation: if you create a never-before-seen instrument, then no one is an expert. 

This performance will be accompanied by a guided free play, where visitors are invited to interact with the instruments in the gallery.

Please note seating is limited and first come first serve. Additional standing room available.

RSVP is required, sign up here. 

About the Performers:
Rena Anakwe is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, poet and healer working primarily with sound, visuals, and scent. Exploring intersections between traditional healing practices, spirituality and performance, she creates works focused on sensory-based, experiential interactions using creative technology. She is based in Brooklyn, New York by way of Nigeria and Canada. Her durational, two-part, public art project “Lifting the Ground Up [iter.02] is currently at Lincoln Center from Fall 2023-Spring 2024. Under the moniker ‘A Space for Sound,’ Anakwe released her album “Sometimes underwater (feels like home)” through RVNG Intl’s Commend THERE Label in Fall 2021. 

Sarah Galdes is a drummer, composer, and music producer. Born in Australia to Indian / Maltese parents, Sarah is currently based in NYC and engages with a wide variety of artists. She has delved into traditional South Korean Samul Nori drumming and North Indian music traditions to further enrich her rhythmic syntax. Sarah performs as a soloist using Sensory Percussion sensors and also tours and performs extensively internationally with artists such as Anna Wise, TEEN, Akwaeke Emezi, River L Ramirez, Overcoats, Efterklang, L’Rain, Lauren Mayberry (CHVRCHES) and many many more. Sarah co-runs a music studio in Greenwich Village called “Synthia.”

Sugar Vendil is a composer, pianist and interdisciplinary artist based in Lenapehoking, known as Brooklyn, NY. Vendil’s work germinates from a kinesthetic and improvisatory approach. A late bloomer, she began making her own work after over a decade of primarily performing as a pianist with her ensemble, The Nouveau Classical Project (2008-2021), and started dancing in 2020. She currently dances in Emily Johnson/Catalyst’s “Being Future Being.” Her piece “Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia,” a memoir of a Filipinx American childhood, will premiere at Living Arts in Tulsa, OK (2024). In 2023 she released an album, “May We Know Our Own Strength,” out on Gold Bolus Recordings.

About the Artist:
sonia louise davis (b. New York, NY, 1988) earned her BA with honors in African American Studies from Wesleyan University and is an alumna of the Whitney Independent Study Program. She is a 2023-2024 Artist in Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Her latest solo exhibition, resonant frequencies, blossoming tones, at Hesse Flatow (NY) was listed a “must see” by Artforum in 2022. She has presented her work at the Whitney Museum (NY), ACRE (Chicago), Sadie Halie Projects (Minneapolis), Ortega y Gasset (Brooklyn),  and Artists Space (NY), among other venues. Residencies and fellowships include the Laundromat Project’s Create Change Fellowship, Civitella Ranieri, New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship at the International Studio & Curatorial Program, Culture Push Fellowship for Utopian Practice, and Stoneleaf Retreat. Her newest book, slow and soft and righteous, improvising at the end of the world (and how we make a new one) was published in 2021 by Co—Conspirator Press, which operates out of the Feminist Center for Creative Work in Los Angeles. Sonia lives and works in Harlem.

Upcoming Performance Date:

April 6, 2-3:30pm: Please note this performance will be followed by a talkback with the artist and collaborators.

Dana Lyn • Alicia Waller + The Excursion • Sugar Vendil

Presented in partnership with American Composers Forum

My program will feature a screening of a short experimental film, May We Know Our Own Strength and my piece ooh wo aa oo wa o for vocalizing chamber ensemble. And maybe a new work for solo piano, voice, and electronics from my forthcoming album, Late Bloomer.

About my program

Short film: “May We Know Our Own Strength”

“May We Know Our Own Strength” is a short film by Jih-E Peng based on Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya’s installation of the same name. Sugar Vendil's score, featuring her own voice, electronics, piano, and violinist Hajnal Pivnick, recalls feelings of horror and pain, the act of healing through ritual, and collective mourning and strength.

“May We Know Our Own Strength is an abstract, hybrid narrative document centered around artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya’s similarly-titled piece exploring collective healing after sexual assault within AAPI communities, created tragically in the wake of the Atlanta spa shootings. In the spirit of the installation itself, ‘May We Know Our Own Strength’ recreates the process of trauma, the hurdles of healing, and the strength that can be found in sharing and community.”

For the installation, Phingbodhipakkiya weaved hanging paper sculptures of anonymous stories by NYC survivors of sexual assault and gender-based violence. All New Yorkers were invited to lay down their burdens anonymously at MayWeKnow.nyc. Each submission immediately activated one of sixteen internet-connected printers and lit a corresponding incandescent bulb, visible from a storefront window in the Meatpacking District at 401 W. 14th Street. During the course of the installation, Amanda held a vigil and 8-minute moment of silence at 8pm every evening as a memorial to the eight Atlanta shooting victims, as their names printed and all 16 incandescent bulbs of the installation shone resolutely into the night.

“ooh wo aa oo wa o” by sugar vendil for vocalizing chamber ensemble
Vendil will perform her work for vocalizing chamber ensemble “ooh wo ah oo wa o” with her ensemble, The Nouveau Classical Project (NCP). NCP will wear costumes created for “ooh wo ah oo wa o” by Jasmine Chong. Chong weaves rich and personal stories through a canvas of colour, silhouette, texture and form, producing pieces that are sculptural, romantic and meaningful. She was featured on Season 1 of Amazon’s “Making the Cut.”

“ooh wo ah oo wa o” reflects on the painful but necessary act of surrender through fluttering textures, glitches, and vocalizations. It was composed as Vendil decided to wind down NCP, the ensemble she founded in 2008, followed by having to make the heartbreaking decision to put her dear cat Coco to sleep. The work is dedicated to Coco.

It is scored for a vocalizing ensemble of flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano. “ooh wo ah oo wa o” has been made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.