John Niekrasz is an artist working in sound, language, performance, and movement. His practice traverses disciplines, embraces collaboration, and in Fall 2024, his practice found a home in the EAR Forest at Lewis & Clark College where he was invited to be the Fall 2024/Spring 2025 EAR Artist-in-Residence.
Originally from Chicago, now based in Portland, Oregon, Niekrasz received an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. A lifelong student of music, he has studied improvisation with Milford Graves, percussion and dance in Havana, and classical Hindustani tabla with Pandit Lacchu Maharaj. Committed to improvisation both in performance and as a compositional approach, Niekrasz bridges the musico-poetic divide through text-based composition and syllabic musical notation. The work grapples with ideas around poverty and ornament, rigor and effortlessness, justice and militancy, centering liberatory texts at the heart of it all. Alongside his dedication to music, Niekrasz publishes poetry, fiction, and essays. He edits and ghostwrites professionally and is currently finishing his third novel.
Niekrasz has created work as a fellow at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, ACRE Arts Residency, Résidence Point Dom, Lazuli Residency, Paris’ Cité International des Arts, and the 2024 Oregon Artists’ Biennial. He founded the CMG’s Outset Music Series, works in ACRE’s recording studio, and has served as artistic director of the Creative Music Guild. His collaborations and performances with artists include Rhys Chatham, Joanna Newsom, Y La Bamba, Marilyn Crispell, Akron/Family, Mika Singh, Mary Halvorson, Glenn Kotche, Holland Andrews, Marcus Fischer, Luke Wyland, Ed Rodriguez, Tim Kinsella, Tomeka Reid, Nicole Mitchell, Nate Wooley, and many others.
The EAR Forest is a 16-channel audio system of speakers nestled in the trees along a winding pathway behind the Lewis & Clark Art Department. It offers visiting artists, students, and faculty a space for creating audio works within the forest, allowing for immersive experiences, getting us closer to our own senses. Our visiting artist-in-residence program offers a unique opportunity for artists to make a project for the EAR Forest path, and a vital way for students to learn from professional artists as they make work in the trees.
This page will be updated with related dates as they are announced. In addition to creating the new sound art composition during his residency, Niekrasz met with students, ran workshops, and gave a public lecture. Come join us to hear John Niekrasz debut the new work on Thursday, April 3rd!
-
Wednesday, Oct. 9th, 2024, 7:30pm, Miller 105: Artist Talk with John Niekrasz
Free, open to the public!
-
Thursday, April 3rd, 2025, performance at 5:30pm, in the EAR Forest: CIVILIPOLI
The world premiere of John Niekrasz’s 35-minute solo composition for acoustic drums, Sensory Percussion technology, and the 16-speaker woodland array at the heart of Lewis & Clark College’s Experimental Art Research (EAR) Forest. Free, all ages, open to the public!
Links:
