Laura Dykes and Aryn Ward on/with Nanibah Chacon's Where Two Rivers Meet

Laura Dykes and Aryn Ward perform at the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University on Saturday, October 10, from 3 PM to 5 PM. They're playing on and with Where Two Rivers Meet, a mixed media sound installation by Nanibah Chacon. Dykes is on double bass, and Ward handles winds and percussion.

The performance is part of the Moody Center's Dimensions Variable series, presented by Nameless Sound in conjunction with the exhibition R_adiant Geometries: Vectors of Knowledge from the Indigenous Americas. Rather than a standard concert, the two musicians are working directly with Chacon's installation, so the piece itself is as much a part of the music as the instruments they're playing.

Nameless Sound has been a fixture of the Houston scene since 2006, and its roots go back to musician David Dove, who started leading improvisation workshops for young people in 1997. Dove worked under the influence of his mentor, the pioneering composer and Houston native Pauline Oliveros, whose philosophy of Deep Listening changed how musicians think about sound, awareness, and community. In 2001, Oliveros invited Dove to establish a Houston branch of her organization, the Pauline Oliveros Foundation, which later became the Deep Listening Institute and, in 2006, the independent nonprofit Nameless Sound. Over more than 25 years, the organization has activated concert halls, art spaces, classrooms, and community sites across Houston, using improvisation and Deep Listening to foster creativity, empathy, and connection.

This particular show takes place at the Moody Center for the Arts, with Nameless Sound performing at The Hill of James Magee. It runs from 3 PM to 5 PM on Saturday, October 10.