Sara Zalek & Norman Long: Marsh Melodies and the Breathing Ear

Join Sara Zalek & Norman Long for a soundwalk along Big Marsh’s expansive and recovering landscape/soundscape. The artists write, “As a silent mass, diverse and in solidarity, we listen out for and to the layers of sounds most often tuned out or discounted, points of unity, resonance, dissonance, and divergent noises. Our walk includes meditation practice, ear calibration exercises, interactive recording demonstrations, and performance.” Big Marsh Park is located at 11559 S Stony Island Ave. We will meet at the pavilion or covered meeting area. Click here for accessibility information. Please note the rain date for this event is Saturday, June 14, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM.

For several years, Long and Zalek have documented, researched, walked, and led soundwalks at Big Marsh and other remediated areas in the Calumet region through the support of Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology.

RSVP here: https://forms.gle/D9nBzHhtTpaSAG5ZA

Sara Zalek is a transdisciplinary artist, producer, and curator. Rooted in physical investigations of trauma, resilience, and transformation, their work is intimate, raw, poetic. They make performances into learning situations, workshops, and sensing environments to encourage thoughtful interpersonal connections. Their collaborations are extensive, and continue to actively study dance, music, and art making as part of their practice. They teach movement classes to adults and children. Zalek performs often; The City of Chicago named them an Esteemed Artist in 2022, and awarded a Curatorial Grant by Elastic Arts Foundation 2020-23. They are a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist (2015), 3Arts Make a Wave Awardee, and Ragdale Foundation Fellow. Their work has been supported and well received at incredible venues across Chicago, US, and internationally, including Chicago Cultural Center, High Concept Labs, Experimental Sound Studio, Elastic Arts, Experimental Sound Studio, Links Hall, Lumpen Radio, dfbrl8r, Headwaters in Portland, OR, Arts + Literature Laboratory, Madison, WI, Salish Sea Butoh Festival, Bellingham, WA, Urban Guild in Kyoto, Japan, and so many more.

Norman W. Long’s multi-disciplinary practice involves walking, listening, teaching, improvising, performing, recording, and composing to create environments and situations in which he and the audience are engaged in dialogues about memory, place, ecology, race, culture, value, silence, and the invisible. Norman’s practice has been influenced by the emerging practices and thinking of 1970s artists, musicians, critics, and designers regarding landscape and sound- specifically Rosalind Krauss’ article “Sculpture in the Expanded Field” and the development of the acoustic ecology by R. Murray Schafer. The sounds found in his work has its inspirational roots in the Black music of house and techno, ‘free jazz,’ Great Black Music, Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi, Pauline Oliveros, King Tubby, Dub, and the sounds of artists outside and in-between genres. Long’s improvisational and compositional strategies are inspired by Samuel R. Delany’s palimpsest text  “Plague Journal ” chapter of Dhalgren (Science Fiction) and Atlantis: Three tales (Fiction) and Mark Bradford’s survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art: Chicago in 2011 featuring Bradford’s process of collecting and collaging, scraping and pasting materials sourced from his community in Los Angeles.

Holding a Master’s Degree in “New Genres” from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Master’s of Landscape Architecture degree from Cornell University (2008), Norman relocated to Chicago in 2008. His artistic endeavors have been showcased at diverse venues, including Experimental Sound Studio, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Renaissance Society, Yale University, Illinois State University Galleries, SAIC Sullivan Galleries, Chicago Artists Coalition Gallery, Links Hall, Elastic Arts, Constellation, and the Arts Club as part of the 2015 Chicago Humanities Festival. Norman is artist in residence at the Hyde Park Art Center for 2025.

Graphics by http://madelinestocking.com/