Regina Martinez Commissioned for Site-Specific Sound Installation
Regina Martinez selected for site-specific sound installation at Mana Contemporary
The Peregrine Falcon Project, a collaboration between Monira Foundation, Mana Contemporary, and Experimental Sound Studio, commissions Chicago artist Regina Martinez to create a site-specific sound installation responding to the peregrine falcons who call Mana Contemporary home.
The installation opens to the public in September 2023, in conjunction with the Chicago Architecture Biennial.
Martinez was selected from an open call for proposals prompting artists to respond to the peregrine falcons who have made Mana’s building a nesting site since 2000. This site, along with numerous others throughout Chicago and Illinois, is overseen by Mary Hennen of the Field Museum’s Chicago Peregrine Program. Through nest site monitoring, scientific research, and public education, the program works to better understand this once endangered species and help them thrive throughout Chicago and the greater Midwest.
Martinez’s installation centers the idea that, despite our close proximity to these creatures, what we know about the peregrine falcon is what we imagine the falcon to be. This multichannel sound installation will be located in the intimate recesses of Mana’s 4th Floor restroom area.
The Peregrine Falcon Project is the first collaboration between Monira Foundation, Mana Contemporary, and Experimental Sound Studio.
ABOUT REGINA MARTINEZ
Regina Martinez is a sound centered artist based in Chicago. Her current experiments draw from an archive of infinitely personal recordings she relates to as soundmarks: her father’s hands cleaning dried beans, drumline rehearsal after school, her mother praying the rosary the night before her heart procedure, the creak of the gate where you used to live. Each recorded moment becomes its own instrument, its own layer of composition, and a washing and wringing out of memory meant to be overheard like a poem again and again. Most recently she was program manager for Threewalls in Chicago, and received an MA in Sound Arts & Industries from Northwestern University.
ABOUT MONIRA FOUNDATION
Monira Foundation, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit institution, functions as a radical experimental laboratory, working in close collaboration with artists, curators, musicians, dancers, producers, and writers to conceive, realize, and present innovative projects in all media. Its aim is to spark, intensify, and promote an evolving cultural and social dialogue between creators, audiences, and institutions. Focusing on the unique potential of interdisciplinary work in a context distinct from the distracting pressures of academia and the market, Monira Foundation advances the practices and products of today’s foremost artists, amplifying their contributions to communities both local and distant.
Monirafoundation.org | IG: @monirafoundation | Facebook: Monira Foundation | YouTube: MoniraFoundation8788
ABOUT MANA CONTEMPORARY
Anchored by cultural centers in Jersey City, Chicago, and Miami, Mana Contemporary is a distributed institution, dedicated to celebrating the creative process, supporting artists, and serving as a bridge between creative hubs worldwide.
Through a global community committed to mutual support and progressive thought, Mana Contemporary offers world class exhibitions, residencies, career development, and conversation in person and online.
Practitioners specializing in a variety of disciplines work alongside each other in forward-thinking environments that foster experimentation, collaboration, and mutual inspiration, building a profound and personal approach to contemporary art.
manacontemporary.com | IG: @manacontemporary_chicago | Facebook: Mana Contemporary