Frist Art Museum Announces Lineup For 'Frist Friday: An Evening Of Chaos And Awe' On July 27

The Frist Art Museum presents Frist Friday: An Evening of Chaos and Awe on Friday, July 27, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Inspired by the exhibitions Chaos and Awe: Painting for the 21st Century and The Presence of Your Absence Is Everywhere: Afruz Amighi, the evening will offer visitors opportunities to experience art in new and unexpected ways with live performances, interactive gallery activities, and food and drink specials

Frist Friday: An Evening of Chaos and Awe is the first event of the revamped annual concert series, which will now be held through the year indoors instead of during consecutive summer months in the Turner Courtyard. "Based on positive feedback about the added value of art-related programs offered during Frist Fridays 2017, this year we are further strengthening the link between live performances and current exhibitions," said Susan H. Edwards, Frist Art Museum Executive Director and CEO.

July 27 Live Performances

Adia Victoria is a Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and poet known for her brooding "gothic blues" style and compelling live performances. Her 2016 debut album Beyond the Bloodhounds earned wide critical acclaim from national outlets, including Rolling Stone, NPR, and American Songwriter, and she is set to release a follow up on Canvasback/Atlantic Records. Raised in South Carolina, Victoria drew early inspiration from blues and country legends, including Robert Johnson, Junior Kimbrough, and Patsy Cline. She names Angela Davis, Maya Angelou, and Flannery O'Connor as literary role models, and her own songs center around themes explored in Chaos and Awe-displacement, isolation, and the question of sin and salvation. She sums up her artistic goals by stating, "I want to shine a light on the unseen and speak the unspeakable."

Ciona Rouse is a Nashville poet whose first chapbook, VANTABLACK, was published by Third Man Books (2017). She was featured in the live performance Nick Cave: Feat. Nashville in April. Rouse has written a body of poetry that will be interwoven into Adia Victoria's performance.

Afruz Amighi, an artist whose exhibition The Presence of Your Absence Is Everywhere will be on view in the Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery, has long incorporated music and poetry into her visual arts practice. Darius Jamal VanSluytman, a New York-based composer, producer, and performer, will start the evening with a series of musical interludes inspired by Amighi's work.

A fixture of New York's alternative music scene, VanSluytman began performing in the late 1990s with acclaimed alt-rap crew No Surrender. He has worked with poet and electronic musician Mike Ladd, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio and has performed a commissioned work at The Whitney Museum. This performance will be his first in Nashville and marks his third collaboration with Afruz Amighi. He will be accompanied by a trio of Nashville string musicians: Alicia Enstrom, viola, Cremaine Booker, cello, and Timbre Cierpke, harp.

Afruz Amighi will give an in-gallery talk after the musical performance.

Nashville artist James Perrin, whose work is in Chaos and Awe, will give an in-gallery talk.
Ciona Rouse will lead an interactive creative writing activity in the galleries, responding to works in Chaos and Awe and The Presence of Your Absence Is Everywhere.
Chef Maneet Chauhan (Chauhan Ale & Masala House, Tànsu?, and The Mockingbird) created a dish in response to Chaos and Awe: Painting for the 21st Century as part of our multimedia tour of the exhibition on the Frist App. A tasting of the dish and copies of Chef Chauhan's recipe will be available (first come, first served) during the evening.

Food truck and beverage special details TBA.

Admission to each Frist Friday is free for Frist Art Museum members, visitors 18 years and younger, and college students with ID. General adult admission is $12.00 for not-yet-members, $9.00 for seniors, and $7.00 for military.

The next Frist Friday will be on Friday, October 26, to coincide with the exhibition Paris 1900: City of Entertainment.

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