Sunrise performance at the Garfield Park Conservatory
ACRE is pleased to present a Night Out In The Parks event with alumna Lakshmi Ramgopal’s Lykanthea. Please join us on Wednesday, September 22 at 6:30am, just a few minutes before sunrise, at the Garfield Park Conservatory's City Garden. This performance is free and open to the public.
Celebrate the fall equinox with this special performance, which will feature the calls of South Asian birds as well as a new work-in-progress titled Water, Wind, Waves, Snow.
Thank you to the Chicago Park District and Angelique Grandone for their generous support.
Lykanthea Ensemble:
Lakshmi Ramgopal (movement, sruti box, vocals)
Asha Rowland (movement and vocals)
Erica Miller (cello and vocals)
and Johanna Brock (violin and vocals)
About Lykanthea
Since 2014, the work of Lykanthea's Lakshmi Ramgopal has transformed from electro-ambient studies into expansive performances and installations that explore traditional South Indian art forms through pop idioms. Her debut EP Migration garnered praise from Noisey, Chicago Tribune, and Public Radio International’s The World for its alchemy of synths, catchy melodies, and Carnatic improvisatory techniques. The record led to a European tour, Leipzig’s Wave-Gotik Treffen, and an opening performance for the 50th anniversary celebrations of Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. She was an artist in residence at ACRE in 2018 and at Edgar Miller’s Glasner Studio in 2019.
Since the death of her maternal grandmother and the birth of her nieces, Ramgopal has turned her attention to atavistic questions of motherhood and personal legacy with sound installations like A Half-Light Chorus (2018) in Chicago’s Lincoln Park Conservatory. Commissioned by Experimental Sound Studio, the installation included a four-channel composition that featured vocalists imitating the calls of birds from India and mentioned in Sanskrit literature, as well as site-specific performances by ensembles of musicians and dancers.
These journeys herald a shift in Ramgopal’s storytelling—one that eschews electronics to embrace the warmth of the sruti box, unprocessed vocals, and dance. They find a home in Some Viscera, Ramgopal’s forthcoming EP, which finds her searching for renewal in analog drones, the glockenspiel, guitar, and a string ensemble.
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ACRE prioritizes the needs of our guests wherever we present programming. The City Garden at the Garfield Park Conservatory is wheelchair accessible. The performance will begin right before sunrise at 6:30am and last for 30 minutes. Chairs will be available for guests who do not wish to stand. Unfortunately, bathrooms will not be available as the Conservatory building is closed during the performance. Your accessibility coordinator for the event is Executive Director Kate Bowen who can be reached at info@acreresidency.org.
Protect Yourself, Protect Your Neighbor, Protect Our Parks
*Wear your mask *Stay 6 feet away from others *Wash your hands
