Ka Baird is a performer, sound artist, musician and composer based in New York City. They are known for their live performances which include extended voice and microphone techniques combined with electronics and psychoacoustic interplay of flutes and other woodwinds. They create a present tense sound with a vigorous, ritualistic delivery that seeks extreme release through physical exertion and psychic extension. They have worked/collaborated with many other musicians, artists, filmmakers and choreographers, both in structured compositions and in their dedicated practice of improvisation and interdisciplinary work. 

 

Their solo  releases include "Sapropelic Pycnic" (Drag City 2017), "Respires" (RVNG Intl 2019), "Brooding Exercises" (Longform Editions 2021), and "Vivification Exercises" (RVNG Intl 2021). In March 2024, they released their most recent solo record entitled  "Bearings: Soundtracks for the Bardos" through Brooklyn imprint RVNG Intl. Recent national and international engagements have included performances at Unsound Festival (Krakow, PL), Lampo (Chicago, IL), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL), MoMA PS1 (Queens, NY), Issue Project Room (Brooklyn, NY), The Kitchen (NYC), The Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia, PA), TUSK Festival (Newcastle, UK), Incubate (Tilburg, NL), KRAAK (Brussels, BE), Le Guess Who (Utrecht, NL), and the Festival Of Endless Gratitude (Copenhagen, DK). They have been artist-in-residence at We Jazz Festival (Helsinki, FI), Sonoscopia (Porto, PT), Inkonst (Malmo, SE), Experimental Sound Studio (Chicago, IL), and Pioneer Works (Brooklyn, NY). They have been a recipient of the Foundation of Contemporary Art's Emergency Grant,  a Jerome Foundation Artist-In-Residence at Roulette Intermedium, and is currently a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow through 2023-25.

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They are one of the core members of Spires That In The Sunset Rise, founded in Chicago in 2001. 

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For EU/UK/AU bookings contact denystommy@gmail.com

For North American bookings contact sapropelicpycnic@gmail.com

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Artist Statement:

I am obsessed with hyper-presence and physicality. There is an earnest precision, teetering between slapstick and ritual, to the visceral delivery of my sound shaping.  I want to spew sound around, much like spit or the exhalation of a breath, deconstructing it as it is dispersed. 

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