FREE
Walk-ins welcome; reservations recommended
The 2025 OPTION season kicks off with Potliquor, a new experimental duo with pianist Sharon Udoh and turnablist Allen Moore. The two of them hearken back to Black ancestry and call towards Black futures through sampling, remixing, and improvisation.
This performance and interview are presented in the ESS garden, and will premiere online on ESS's YouTube.
The OPTION series is curated by Andrew Clinkman, Lily Finnegan, and Dorothy Carlos.
Photos by Derrick Alexander (Allen Moore), Megan Leigh Barnard (Sharon Udoh)
About Sharon Udoh
Sharon Udoh is a Nigerian-American pianist, composer, arranger, curator, and vocalist based in Chicago. Their performances have been described as a warm bowl of soup, a tornado, a jalapeño pepper, a Jackson Pollock painting, a bulldozer, and magnetic. Her collaborators have included clipping., Tune-Yards, Jamila Woods, Ben Lamar Gay, Angel Bat Dawid, and on this particular day, Allen Moore.
About Allen Moore
Allen Moore is a Black Interdisciplinary Visual Artist, Experimental Turntablist, Sound Artist, Educator and Youth Mentor born and raised in the Historic Village of Robbins, IL. Moore has exhibited and performed across the greater midwest, including Tritriangle, Compound Yellow, Experimental Sound Studio, Elastic Arts, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Lula Cafe.
About OPTION
OPTION is an ongoing music salon curated by Chicago musicians Andrew Clinkman, Lily Finnegan, and Dorothy Carlos and presented by Experimental Sound Studio. Its programming explores contemporary perspectives on improvisation and composition in a 'salon' format, enabling local, national, and international artists to publicly discuss their practice and ideas as well as perform.
Parking
Street parking can be found easily around ESS on streets such as W. Thorndale. There are three parking spots directly in front of ESS on Ravenswood. On weekends, parking is also available along the front of Weber Furniture; please do not block the garage doors. Behind ESS through the alley, there are also two parking spots which we are happy to reserve for anyone with accessibility needs. Please get in touch with info@ess.org to reserve a spot.
During the OPTION series this summer, diagonal parking is available in the alley directly south of ESS and Weber Furniture Service.
Accessibility
ESS has wheelchair seating and accessible bathrooms on both floors.
Please note that once on one floor, there is no ADA-accessible path inside the building to switch between floors; you will have to exit the building and reenter from the respective floor entrance. Our front entrance on Ravenswood leads you to our 1st floor (Audible Gallery, Studio A, Live Room), while our alley entrance leads you to the basement/garden (garden shows, Creative Audio Archive, Studio B).
To reserve accessible seating or parking, request other accommodations, or ask us any accessibility-related questions, please email info@ess.org.