Ka Baird is a performer, composer and sound designer based in New York City. They are known for their live performances which include extended voice and microphone techniques combined with electronics and a psychoacoustic interplay of flutes and other woodwinds. They create a present tense sound with a vigorous, ritualistic delivery that seeks extreme release through physical exertion and psychic extension. They have worked/collaborated with many other musicians, artists, filmmakers and choreographers, both in structured compositions and in their dedicated practice of improvisation and interdisciplinary work.
Recent engagements have included performances at Unsound Festival (Krakow, PL), Lampo (Chicago, IL), MoMA PS1 (Queens, NY), Issue Project Room (Brooklyn, NY), The Kitchen (NYC), and Le Guess Who (Utrecht, NL). They were a 2020 recipient of the Foundation of Contemporary Art's Emergency Grant as well as a Jerome Foundation Artist-in-Residence at Roulette Intermedium in 2018.
FELLOWSHIP STATEMENT
With the generous support of this fellowship I plan on continuing to explore the outer dimensions of sound through performance. By combining experimental sound design with sound-reactive gestures, movement and acts of physical endurance, I will continue to challenge notions of how sound is presented and shared. I plan to further my explorations in acoustic processing, extended microphone techniques, granular synthesis, modular synthesis, sampling and embodied practice. I want to expand my compositional process and create larger scale, interdisciplinary works that involve multiple collaborators.
Photo by Alex Phillipe Cohen.