Wet Ink Ensemble Releases Third Edition of Monthly Journal, Wet Ink Archive:03 FUTURE VISIONS

On Saturday, August 1, 2020 the Wet Ink Ensemble released the third issue of its new, monthly online journal of adventurous music and conversation, the Wet Ink Archive.

Archive 03, "Future Visions," highlights the work of seven decidedly future-oriented artists: Peter Evans and Sam Pluta; Marina Kifferstein; and Erin Rogers, Ashkan Behzadi, Erin Lesser and Mariel Roberts. In addition to sharing their innovative work as composers and creative improvisers, these seven musicians write about their artistic ideals, their challenges in the face of pandemic and institutional brokenness, and their visions for holistic music making with a level of honesty and openness that is refreshing in our often career-driven arts world.

Composer and trumpeter Peter Evans and composer and electronic musician Sam Pluta have been improvising together and writing music for each other in various contexts for over a decade. In their article, Future Visions, Evans and Pluta discuss wide-ranging topics from creative process and technology to altered brain-states. Partly an analysis of Evans' recent work for piccolo flute, Message From The Stars, and partly a collective rumination on artistic practice, the conversation ultimately coalesces around a pointed and timely critique of the new music scene that Evans and Pluta inhabit and love.

In Toward Greater Intentionality, violinist and composer Marina Kifferstein reflects on her growth as a creative artist while taking a hard look at the circumstances, systems, and feedback mechanisms that molded her path as a classical violinist turned composer/improviser/new music specialist. Kifferstein is a founding member of TAK ensemble and The Rhythm Method string quartet as well as a busy freelancer with groups such as the International Contemporary Ensemble and the Wet Ink Large Ensemble.

Earlier this summer, in an effort to support composers and performers during the pandemic, The Library of Congress commissioned ten new works for online presentation as part of The Boccaccio Project. Wet Ink is proud to have been involved in two of these premieres: Erin Rogers' Hello World, written for Wet Ink flutist Erin Lesser, and Ashkan Behzadi's Lobelia, written for Wet Ink cellist Mariel Roberts. In Boccaccio Responsori, Rogers, Lesser, Behzadi, and Roberts reflect on the challenges and rewards of making socially distanced adventurous music, while sharing an artists' perspective on the emotional trauma that has become woven into daily life as multiple national crises continue to unfold.

The mission of Wet Ink Archive parallels that of the Ensemble: sharing the body of work generated within the group, celebrating the music of longtime collaborators, and providing a platform for emerging and underrepresented artists. Each issue includes three articles ranging from personal reflection to in-depth musical analysis, accompanied by newly released music and archival documentation.

The first issue of Wet Ink Archive included Topographies of Interaction, an in-depth discussion between Wet Ink Ensemble members and composers Alex Mincek and Sam Pluta about their works featured on Wet Ink's new album, Glossolalia/Lines on Black, which was released on May 1, 2020 on Carrier Records; in addition to an article from cellist Mariel Roberts on her own compositional and improvisational work and longtime relationship with Wet Ink; plus insights from vocalist Charmaine Lee on building a personal language coupled together with newly released videos of recent work with Sam Pluta and Chris Goudreau.

The second issue featured a reflection on Kate Soper's opera The Romance of the Rose by creative directors Kate Soper, Michael Rau, and Josh Modney, including two video and two audio premieres; an article by composer Rick Burkhardt on his unique relationship to words, pitch, and noise, featuring Alban and other works; and a piece by composer/trombonist Weston Olencki where discusses his evolving musical practice.

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