Photo by Shannon Marks
On View: Sunday, September 22, 2024 - Sunday, December 29, 2024
Exhibition hours: open daily, 9am – 5pm
Fern Room at Lincoln Park Conservatory
2391 N. Stockton Drive, Chicago
Free admission with reservation
“Following a summer spent in Chicago, “The World Doubles in Size” is a piece compiled of field recordings taken all around the city- documenting a summer spent at home. The sounds of the Chicago river, summer storms, conversations, cicadas, violin, and voice, are all featured throughout the piece in varying levels of processing. This bed of recordings creates a soundscape in which nature and the sounds of the city can be improvised alongside- a collaborator that is always present. Loosely inspired by the Mary Oliver poem, “Hurricane”, from the compilation, “A Thousand Mornings”, the piece plays with comparing the shifting of the seasons with the ever evolving nature of the self.
This piece is dedicated to Gladys [The fish in the Lincoln Park Conservatory Fern Room pond].”
— Macie Stewart
“The World Doubles in Size” was commissioned by Experimental Sound Studio for the Florasonic sound installation series, a partnership with the Chicago Park District. The 2024-2025 Florasonic season is supported by Cliff Dwellers Foundation and the Paul M. Angell Family foundation. ESS programs & services are made possible through the generosity of our members and donors. Major support is provided by the DEW Foundation, Ruth Foundation for the Arts, Walder Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Agency, Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, New Music USA, and The Alice M. Ditson Fund.
Any guest for the opening reception will be expected to register as a visitor either in advance or upon arrival to the Conservatory
About Macie Stewart
Macie Stewart is a multi-instrumentalist, composer/arranger, songwriter, and improviser based in Chicago, IL, who Downbeat Magazine calls “a master of equilibrium.” Stewart’s works primarily on piano, violin, voice, guitar, and synthesizers. After co-founding the Chicago bands Kids These Days and Marrow, Stewart broadened their practice into the avant-garde jazz scene, performing regularly at Chicago institutions Constellation and The Hungry Brain. In that scene Stewart distinguished herself as a go-to collaborator, co-founding the band Finom (with Sima Cunningham); forming a longstanding artistic collaboration with cellist and sound artist Lia Kohl; performing with Ken Vandermark’s Marker ensemble; and creating as the improvised trio, The Few. Stewart has toured as a multi-instrumentalist with bands such as Japanese Breakfast, The Weather Station, Chance The Rapper, Makaya McCraven, and Tweedy. Stewart has also spent years working as a string arranger, drawing on her varied background in classical, jazz, and Irish folk music to create unique arrangements for artists including the band Whitney, SZA, V.V. Lightbody, Knox Fortune, and many others.