Mutual Exchange is a one night performance event curated by Grace DeVies that will host collaborative, sound-based works by three groups of Chicago-based performers exploring improvisation. Tina and Sara, Sand, and Soft Slap will perform individual collaborative performances at Comfort Station on Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 6PM. The event Mutual Exchange explores ideas of connection between people who trust in one another enough to act improvisationally. Collaborative improvisation represents the growth of interpersonal relationships. In this process, there is no individual: the being of one influences and responds to and affects the being of the other, constantly pushing back and forth, creating one fluid motion. In Mutual Exchange, power dynamics are not struggled for, but given, control is relinquished to improvisation and chance, and performers and audience are required to trust and respect one another’s choices.

Tina and Sara are fast friends and collaborators who create new instruments with found objects and play them with intentional abandon. They enjoy making together and finding new ways to approach sound.

Sand is a Chicago based trio who create soundscapes that occupy a space between noise and hypnotic, experimental drone textures. Their work includes manipulated feedback loops, envelope sounds in effects, and self-generated noise through no-input mixing, forging a chaotic yet controlled cacophony. Their percussive elements range from found objects, traditional instruments and vocal utterance to drive unpredictable rhythms through improvisation.

Soft Slap declares a space of queer trans* love and intimacy with no hierarchy between audience and performer through performing sonic scores and creating action-based sound. This ephemeral sanctuary allows for investigation of sensuality, sexuality, sound, space, and self.

Cover Photo by Trejon D’Angelo.