In conjunction with The Patient, Joseph Clayton Mills' exhibit in Audible Gallery, Mills will present the performance of an original composition based on fragmentary texts by Franz Kafka, composed as mundane communications from his deathbed, rendered mute by tuberculosis of the larynx. He will be joined by ESS regulars Olivia Block, Noé Cuéllar, Steven Hess, and Jason Stein.

Joseph Clayton Mills is an artist, writer, and musician who lives and works in Chicago. His text-based paintings, assemblages, and installations have been exhibited in Chicago, New York, and Europe, and his work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New Yorker. His fiction and criticism have been published both in the United States and abroad, most recently in the magazine Wolf Notes and the architectural journal Log, and he is the author of the short-story collection Zyxt (Entr’acte 2010). He is also an active participant in the improvised and experimental musical community in Chicago, where he has performed and collaborated with such notable musicians as Adam Sonderberg and Steven Hess (as a member of the band Haptic), Sylvain Chaveau, Jason Stein, Tony Buck, Mark Solotroff, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Olivia Block, among many others. His recordings have appeared on numerous labels, including FSS, Bloodlust!, and Entr’acte.