New City Magazine - Healing Compositions: Audio Artist Kikù Hibino Pairs Memory With Sound

September 21, 2022

To say Chicago-based audio artist Kikù Hibino is having a prolific year is an understatement. With residencies at Experimental Sound Studio (ESS) and Compound Yellow; performances and workshops at both of those venues plus the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA); and an installation at the Lincoln Park Conservatory, I had trouble keeping this profile to word count. His practice takes many forms—including community organizing—and is an ongoing attempt to “find the meeting points of ambient and beat-based music.”

Hibino debuted a new pair of sound works—a posthumous collaboration with his close friend Gregory Bae—at the MCA on July 9. (Bae passed away in 2021; I initially met Hibino researching his In Memoriam.) The performance coincided with the opening of Bae’s “Chicago Works” exhibition. Curator Nolan Jimbo’s moving remarks about Bae’s work and legacy included an anecdote about a mechanized piece malfunctioning until opening day—adding to the collective sense that Bae was spiritually present for the celebration that afternoon.

Hibino’s MCA set was conceived during his recent ESS Outer Ear residency in Bae’s hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah. In our interviews, the way he spoke about the experience made it clear that this was a residency in grief for Hibino; specifically while camping in Zion National Park, taking field recordings amidst the harsh landscape as he mourned the passing of his friend. These recordings were source material for the two performances: first, “Somatic Tracing” in collaboration with Mitsu Salmon (a Salt Lake City resident who hosted Hibino); and second, “Ex Radios” with Haruhi Kobayashi and Steven Hess.