🔊 Audio Flux in Chicago - Listen Now!
This month we've got a special newsletter! You'll find five excellent Audio Flux Circuit 06 submissions from Chicago producers, plus a recap of Arts In The Dark, and a heads up about audio magazine Signal Hill's second issue!
Here's what we've got for you this month
- Notes from our special November zoom showcasing Audio Flux Circuit 06 submissions — plus, check out the new Audio Flux podcast!
- Photos from the Arts In The Dark parade! We had a blast and can't wait to do it again next year.
- New audio/podcast publications to check out, like Issue 2 of Signal Hill
Chicago showed up for Audio Flux!
We're so thrilled to share that Audio Flux Circuit 06 received more submissions from Chicago than ever before! In our special November zoom, we got to hear and discuss 5 of those pieces with their producers. We got special permission to share these pieces with you today, too.
Sarah Geis - "How Do Bunnies Gump So High?"
It’s spring 2025 and in the Geis household there are questions that need answers.
Sarah Geis created this commissioned piece for Circuit 06, and shared a preview of an early draft at our summer Audio Flux event. That early draft used Tempeh as a storytelling device. We asked her why she shifted away from Tempeh — and in what other ways did the piece evolve and why?
Sarah said that when she makes audio stories, she likes to start with a ton of material and then begin to carve it away until she crafts the story within. She was dealing with a lot of complicated things at the time she made this piece, and also making a lot of tempeh, which is fermented soybeans. So it seemed like a good idea to include it in some way. But when she made the decision to lose the tempeh, the story came together, especially with the Audio Flux constraint of needing to be exactly just 3 minutes.
Adrian Wood - "Wet Bulb"
Consider this a training protocol for sustained arousal.
There are so many small and unique details in this fluxwork — like the limestone being sourced from the "exterior of the Disability Determination office". We asked Adrian about their favorite detail/creative choice in this piece.
Adrian said that their friend and collaborator wrote the text of this piece, including the specific detail noted above while Adrian created the music and sound design. They enjoyed working on the music at the beginning of the fluxwork most of all because they felt it captured the sort of corporate/HR feeling they were going for very effectively.
Natalie Moore - "Goree Island"
A Black American tourist experiences the contradictions of Goree Island in Senegal.
This fluxwork addressed big themes about slavery and tourism that could have filled a 30 minute documentary. We asked Natalie to describe the advantages/disadvantages of boiling it down to 3 minutes.
Natalie said she was recording throughout her trip to Senegal without a specific objective in mind. She had come back from the trip shortly before this Audio Flux circuit was announced so it was pretty fresh in her mind when she realized she could make something for this circuit. As it turned out, she didn't have much tape to work with because her recorder died part way through her travels. That ended up making it easier to create a 3 minute piece.
Darien Ridenour - "Secret Story"
Went to the master storyteller for advice and this is what I got.
Darien submitted her fluxwork with the description “Went to the master storyteller for advice and this is what I got.” We asked how she landed on layering the audio in this way and what message she wanted to convey.
Darien said she thinks of this piece as a study or experiment in how to tell a story. She's always thought of her father as a great storyteller and she has a bunch of tapes of him telling stories and decided to layer them on top of each other. Then she started finding places where her father repeated phrases, had similar intonation, etc... Ultimately exploring places where there were sounds that were similar or familiar but still abstracted.
Oliver Wolfe - "Summer Searching"
As the days are getting shorter and the leaves changing color, a recent college graduate sets out to reflect on his transformative summer experience.
Oliver's Fluxwork opens with the line "I wasn't able to create what I needed and I didn't know what it meant" before he describes the creative, professional and personal struggles of living right now. We asked if the making of this piece help him sort some of that out?
Because of travel delays, Oliver couldn't join the meeting but sent this written response to the above question:
First off, I want to say how magical it was that the audio flux prompt for this circuit was literally “creative tension.” That felt so relevant to me with what I was going through and thinking about this summer, so I made the choice to make my audio flux personal. I thought it could be interesting to make a fluxwork that sounds like a vocal diary entry, but with a psychedelic twist. So, to answer your question, did making the audio flux help me? Yes, a lot! One of the biggest things I learned this summer as I was transitioning out of college and into the ‘real world,’ is that structure is actually really important for me. I was so busy and stressed in college, so I was so excited to have time after I graduated to make cool audio things, practice the guitar more often, and read all these books that I never had the time to read during school. But then when I got to that point after a few weeks and I didn’t have a job, and I was separated from all of my closest friends, I started feeling like all of that stuff was arbitrary and like I needed a lot of intrinsic motivation to make myself create regularly. What I found out is that all of my creative passions do not mean anything on their own. They only mean something to me in my day-to-day life because of how they allow me to connect with other people. Audio Flux helped me realize that. For example, I always had the potential and the capabilities to make this audio flux. After all, I did it all by myself. But I would never have done in the way that I did it if I was not prompted to do it. The structure of the circuit inspired me. It was the creative prompt, and it was me thinking about all the people at audio flux who have spent so much time and hard work and who are so passionate about short, creative audio. It was me thinking about all of the people that were also going to submit a fluxwork that motivated me. Not only did I learn a lot by making it, but I also was able to share it with other people and discuss it with them. Just like we’re all doing together now. That’s really where the meaning comes from. So, I’m sure I learned a bit about audio editing and how I might make a better work of art next time, but through the process of doing it, I got myself out of a hole and I learned a lot about myself and the way I look at the world.
Audio Flux Podcast
Also, while you're thinking about Audio Flux, make sure to check out the newly launched Audio Flux Podcast!
Hosted by the singular Amy Pearl, the Audio Flux Podcast shares fluxworks — one at a time — and other small audio treasures in bite-sized, weekly episodes.
Season 01 will feature Circuit 01 fluxworks by: Aaron Edwards, Chloe Prasinos, Yowei Shaw, Megan Tan, Mathilde Urfalino and Gregory Warner.
Arts in The Dark Parade
We had such a blast with our small crew of CAC-ers at the Arts in The Dark Parade! Our group was small, but mighty — and we got the crowd up to a peak of ~130 decibels!
Some photos from the Arts In The Dark parade!
We can't wait to do it again next year! Keep an eye out for more from us next summer.
Signal Hill - Issue Two
Signal Hill, an audio magazine that publishes "documentaries of all kinds: reporting, essays, shorts, profiles, dispatches, reviews, and other things that haven’t named yet" just published their second issue on November 3rd!
Subscribe to Signal Hill on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast app to get new issues when they come out.
Building Aquí - Episode 2 is out!
Produced by CAC member Jesse Betend episode 2 of The Missing Exhibition: Building Aquí is out!
Through the stories of Adriana Portillo-Bartow, a Guatemalan mother fleeing military terror in the 1980s; and Elvira Arellano, whose stand inside a Humboldt Park church after 9/11 reignited a national movement; Chicago History Museum curator Rebekah Coffman reflects on three distinct waves of the city’s historic promise. This episode traces how a moral idea became a political battleground, and what it means now that the United States may have entered a new era where even traditional sanctuaries are no longer safe.