Lisa Alvarado is a visual artist and harmonium player based in Chicago. She plays in the band Natural Information Society and stages her free-hanging paintings in performance.
Alvarado has exhibited most recently in her solo show Sound Talisman at Bridget Donahue, New York; in group exhibitions Out of Easy Reach, UIC, Chicago; Alan Shields Project, Van Doren Waxter, New York; Lisa Alvarado/ Alex Olson/ Daniel Sinsel, Mary Mary, Glasgow; The Freedom principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now, The Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia & Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Material Issue, KMAC Museum. She currently has a solo exhibition at LC Quesser, Tbilisi.
Alvarado’s work has been included in Frieze; Mousse; New York Times; Brooklyn Rail; Art Forum; The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now, University of Chicago Press + others.
Alvarado has performed with Natural Information Society in numerous venues including Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Portugal; Kaleidophon Festival, Austria; FIMAV, Canada; Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago; Documenta 13 with Theaster Gates; and At Twilight, a play by Simon Starling, Japan Society, New York & Common Guild, Glasgow. NIS releases albums on Eremite Records, Drag City Records & Tak:til Records (EU).
2018
Polyphonic Shadow Cloth
solo exhibition
LC Queisser, Tbilisi
10/13/2018 - 1/12/2019
MECA Art Fair
Bridget Donahue booth
San Juan, Puerto Rico
November 16 -19, 2018
Frieze London
Mary Mary Glasgow booth
October 4 - 7, 2018
Out of Easy Reach
Gallery 400, UIC, Chicago
4/27 - 8/5/2018
The Grunwald Gallery at Indiana University Bloomington
8 /24 - 11/14/2018
catalogue
Life As We Know It: A Storehouse Project
Eckert Gallery
Millersville University, Pennsylvania
October 23 - December 16, 2018
Alan Shields Project
Van Doren Waxter, New York
Lisa Alvarado, Alex Olson, Daniel Sinsel
Mary Mary Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland
Natural Information Society performances:
Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago
Blow Out, Oslo, Norway
Folkteatern, Gotemborg, Sweden
Inkonst, Malmo, Sweden
Cortisane Festival, Ghent, Belgium
MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, UK
Club Oslo, London, UK
Cologne, Statgarten, Germany
Bim Huis, Amsterdam, NL
Brdcst Festival, Brussels, Belgium
Rewire Festival, Den Haag, NL
Arkaoda, Berlin, Germany
Banlieues Bleues Festival, Paris, France
Alice, Copenhagen, Denmark
Atlas, Aarhus, Denmark
Danish Vaishyas, Alborg, Denmark
Momentum, Odense, Denmark
Renaissance Society, Bond Chapel, Chicago
The Chapel, San Francisco
Zebulon, Los Angeles
A Pride of Lions, Bridge Sessions 2018, album art
Excavations 1 , Joshua Abrams, Feeding Tube Records, album art
2017
Lisa Alvarado, Alex Olson, Daniel Sinsel
Mary Mary Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland
Sound Talisman
solo exhibition and performance program
Bridget Donahue, New York
The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now
Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
curated by Naomi Beckwith and Dieter Roelstraete
Natural Information Society performances:
Endless Shout
Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
A Reflection
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Stanser Musiktage Festival
Stans, Switzerland
Centro D’Arte, Padua, Italy
Pinelina Dneva Soba, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Kaleidophon festival, Ulrichsberg, Austria
Teatro Maria Matos, Lisboa, Portugal
Teatro Municipal da Guarda, Guarda, Portugal
Salão Brazil, Coimbra, Portugal
Nogueira da Silva Museum / GNRation, Braga, Portugal
Simon Starling lecture with NIS
Arts and the Nuclear Age lecture series, University of Chicago
Simultonality Record release show, Constellation, Chicago
Fred Anderson Park, Chicago
Hideout, Chicago
Experimental Sound Studio, May Chapel, Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago
Subterranean, Chicago
Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang’s 28th Annual Solstice Concerts
Hamid Drake: Music / Movement
Constellation, Chicago
Simon Starling’s At Twilight: A play for two actors, three musicians, one dancer, eight masks (and a donkey costume)
Japan Society, New York
Simon Starling lecture with NIS
Arts and the Nuclear Age lecture series, University of Chicago
Simultonality Record release show, Constellation, Chicago
Fred Anderson Park, Chicago
Hideout, Chicago
Experimental Sound Studio, May Chapel, Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago
Subterranean, Chicago
Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang’s 28th Annual Solstice Concerts
Hamid Drake: Music / Movement
Constellation, Chicago
Simon Starling’s At Twilight: A play for two actors, three musicians, one dancer, eight masks (and a donkey costume)
Japan Society, New York
Simultonality, Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society, vinyl, CD, itunes, silk-screened covers,
Eremite Records (US) and Tak:til/Glitterbeat Records (EU)
2016
The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now
Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
curated by Naomi Beckwith and Dieter Roelstraete
Material Issue
KMAC Museum, Louisville
curated by Joey Yates and Aldy Milliken
Messages in the Street, Chicago public space, curated by Allison Glenn
Natural Information Society performances:
Simon Starling’s At Twilight: A play for two actors, three musicians, one dancer, eight masks (and a donkey costume)
The Common Guild, Glasgow, UK
Serralves em Festa, residency
Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal
Galeria ze Dos Bois, Lisboa, Portugal
with Norberto Lobo
Cafe Oto, London
with Evan Parker
Mona Bismarck American Center, Paris, France
Obey Convention IX festival, Halifax, Canada
Doek Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Intention to Know: The Thought Forms of Annie Besant
Stony Island Arts Bank, Chicago
Levitation Festival
Thalia Hall, Chicago
El Intruso, Madrid, Spain
Dabadaba, San Sebastian, Spain
Poitiers a Jazz Festival, Poitiers, France
Cave 12, Geneva, Switzerland
Ruimte, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Het Bos, Antwerp, Belgium
The Hideout, residency, Chicago
Constellation, Chicago
KMAC Museum, Louisville
Hamid Drake’s Winter Solstice Ensemble
26th Anniversary Winter Solstice performances,
Constellation, Chicago
2015
The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
curated by Naomi Beckwith and Dieter Roelstraete
Imaginary Landscapes, Mana Contemporary, Chicago, curated by
Allison Glenn
Natural Information Society performances:
31e Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV Festival), Canada
Narodni Dom, Maribor, Slovenia
Haiku Festival, Area Sismica, Forli, Italy
Hybrida Space, Villa Moretti, Tarcento, Italy
Rogueart Records, Paris, France
Jazzhouse, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mother STHLM, Fylkingen, Stockholm, Sweden
Sound in Motion, Muziekcentrum Trix, Antwerp, Belgium
Worm, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Stadtgarten, Koln, Germany
Café Oto, London, UK
Klub Ucho, Gdynia, Poland
OPT, Wroclaw, Poland
Kulturana, Warsaw, Poland
Festival de Musiques de Creation,
Ville de Sanguenay
Array Music, Toronto
Union Pool, New York
Capital Fringe, Washington
New Ghost, Servants Quarters Marhalls, Cleveland
Montague Bookmill, North Hampton, Massachusetts
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo
Trinosophes, Detroit
Constellation, Chicago
Chicago Psych Fest, Hideout, Chicago
Logan Square Arts Festival, Chicago
In C, Constellation, Chicago
Magnetoception, 2x LP, Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society), Eremite Records
Automaginary, LP / Cass, silk-screened covers,
Natural Information Society + Bitchin Bajas,
Drag City Records
2014
Szalon, Reva and David Logan Center Gallery, University of Chicago,
curated by Monika Szewczyk
Chromatic Consortium, Franklin, Chicago
Natural Information Society performances:
Eastern Daze Festival, Ghent, Belgium
Roze Tanker, Amsterdam, Netherlands
OCCII, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Cave12, Geneva, Switzerland
Baby’s All Right, New York
Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, Chicago
House of Blues, Chicago
The Krannert Center for Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Pioneer Valley Jazz, Northhampton
New Music Circle, St Louis
Mercury Ballroom, Louisville
Skyway Theatre, Minneapolis
Represencing, cd reissue, Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society) Eremite Records
Natural Information, cd reissue, Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society), Eremite Records
Theaster Gates’s Black Monks of Mississippi performances:
The Black Monastic, residency, Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art,
Porto, Portugal
2013
Traditional Object, solo, Soccer Club Club, Chicago
Natural Information Society performances:
Sant’Anna Arressi Jazz Festival, Sardinia, Italy
Lavoir Moderne, Paris, France
Cafe Oto, London, UK Galeria BWA, Zielona Gora, Poland
Osrodek Postaw Tworczych, Wroclaw, Poland
Bajkonur, Lodz, Poland
Kalendarium Cafe Kultura, Warsaw, Poland
Klub re, Krakow, Poland
Dragon, Poznan, Poland
Suoni per il Popolo Festival, Sala Rosa, Montreal, Canada
Array, Toronto, Canada
Off the Record, DCASE, Reva and David Logan Center, University of Chicago
Doug Aitken's Station to Station Films
Summersonic, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago
Constellation, Chicago
Trinosophes, Detroit
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo
Black Elks Lodge, Ann Arbor
Theaster Gates’s Black Monks of Mississippi performances:
Revealed, in James Turrell’s Skyspace, Stonescape, Napa Valley
13th Ballad, video footage of 12 Ballads for Huguenot House performances, Museum of Contemporary Art, chicago
2012
Limpia, solo, Soccer Club Club, Drag City, Chicago
Natural Information Society performances:
Powiekszenie, Warsaw, Poland
Osrodek Postaw Tworczych, Wroclaw, Poland
Estrada, Poznan, Poland
Klub re, Krakow, Poland
Jazzowa Osrodek, Sejny, Poland
Klub Jazzga, Lodz, Poland
Henry Miller Library, Big Sur
Delmonte Speakeasy, Los Angeles
Dublab, Los Angeles
Brick & Mortar, San Francisco
Haven Underground, Nevada City
Face The Strange, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Adventures in Modern Music Festival, The Wire UK,
The Empty Bottle, Chicago
Polish Embassy, Chicago
Theaster Gates’ Black Monks of Mississippi performances:
12 Ballads for Huguenot House, Documenta 13, Kassel,
Germany
President Barack Obama’s 51st birthday, Chicago
Represencing, LP, silk-screened covers, Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society), Eremite Records
2011
Cosmic Workshop, Chicago
Alternating Currents, Woodland Patterns, Milwaukee
Natural Information Society performances:
Nuit Blanche, Guelph International Jazz Festival, Canada
Loft Society, Cincinnati
Bezanson Hall, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Lorem, Cambridge
Chicago World Music Festival
The Vic, Chicago
The Hideout, Chicago
2010
Qunehuayan, Belair, Chicago
Natural Information Society performances:
Issue Project Room, New York
X Avant New Music Festival, Music Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Casa Del Popolo, Montreal, Canada
Blacks Elks Lodge, Ann Arbor
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Theaster Gates lecture, Cambridge
Natural Information, LP, Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society), Eremite Records