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James Allister Sprang | |
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| Born | 1990 (age 35–36) |
| Alma mater |
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| Known for | Spatial sound, photography, installation, composition |
| Website | www |
James Allister Sprang (born 1990) is an American multidisciplinary artist and composer based in Philadelphia. He works across spatial sound, photography, performance and installation, and his projects include Turning Towards a Radical Listening (2019), Aquifer of the Weave (2022) and Rest Within the Wake (2023).[1][2]
Early life and education
[edit]Sprang is a first-generation Caribbean American.[1] He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in interdisciplinary studio art from Cooper Union in 2013[3] and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.[4] His training was in the visual arts, and in photography in particular.[1]
Work
[edit]Sprang's practice combines writing, image-making and musical composition. As a composer, he writes music intended for spatialised playback on systems such as Meyer Sound Constellation, Dolby Atmos and 4DSound, and frequently presents this work in the form of somatic listening sessions rather than conventional concerts.[5] Much of his work engages the way imaging and speech-recognition technologies have historically failed to register Black subjects.[1]
Turning Towards a Radical Listening
[edit]Turning Towards a Radical Listening was developed across a series of residencies and premiered at The Kitchen in New York in 2019.[1][5] The project began with recorded conversations Sprang held with the poets M. NourbeSe Philip, Rachel Eliza Griffiths and Tracie Morris, which became the sonic source material for the work.[1] In performance, Sprang fed sound into automatic dictation software in real time and projected the resulting text, using the transcription errors it produced to draw attention to bias in speech-recognition systems.[1] The work was presented over a custom-built wave field synthesis array constructed by Bobby McElver and Andrew Schneider.[1]
A solo exhibition of related work, Fragment Scapes, was shown at the Knockdown Center from November to December 2019.[1]
Aquifer of the Weave
[edit]Aquifer of the Weave premiered at the Chocolate Factory Theater in New York in 2022, commissioned by the theatre with support from the State of New York and Carnegie Hall.[6][5] Working with a group of young collaborators, Sprang produced a large-scale weaving of cyanotype prints, presented with a spatialised improvised score performed by Sprang, Jake Goldbas, Rafiq Bhatia and Mathis Picard.[6]
Rest Within the Wake
[edit]Rest Within the Wake was commissioned by Baryshnikov Arts through its 2023 commissioning initiative and premiered at its Howard Gilman Performance Space in September 2023.[7][4][3] The work pairs a projection of cyanotype paper weavings with an orchestral score written for seventeen instruments, which Sprang composed while training as a scuba diver off the coast of Belize.[7] Conceptually the piece draws on three books: Christina Sharpe's In the Wake: On Blackness and Being, Elizabeth Alexander's The Black Interior and Ross Gay's Inciting Joy.[4]
The work was subsequently exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design in Portland, Maine, in 2024.[4][8]
Reception
[edit]Reviewing the premiere for the Observer, Caedra Scott-Flaherty described Rest Within the Wake as exceeding the terms of a conventional musical score and as a work without close comparison.[2] In Culturebot, the reviewer found the piece absorbing but still developing, suggesting it had further room to mature.[9] Writing in the Portland Press Herald, Jorge S. Arango singled out the Maine installation as the strongest of three concurrent exhibitions at the institution.[8]
Awards and fellowships
[edit]- Knight Foundation Art + Tech Fellowship, 2022–2023[5]
- Pew Fellowship in the Arts, 2023–2024[10][5]
- Montalvo Arts Center International Music and Composition Fellowship, 2024–2027[5]
- Lincoln Center Collider Fellowship, 2025–2026[5]
- Exploratorium Artist in Residence, 2025–2027[5]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sprang, James Allister (December 4, 2019). "James Allister Sprang: a breaking from, a breaking with, a breaking out". Art Papers (Interview). Interviewed by McLaughlin, Laurel V. Retrieved September 10, 2026.
- 1 2 Scott-Flaherty, Caedra (September 28, 2023). "Experiencing James Allister Sprang's 'Rest Within the Wake'". Observer. Archived from the original on September 10, 2026. Retrieved September 10, 2026.
- 1 2 "Audiovisual Installation: James Allister Sprang A'13, Rest Within the Wake". Cooper Union. Retrieved September 10, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "James Allister Sprang: Rest Within the Wake". Institute of Contemporary Art, Maine College of Art & Design. Retrieved September 10, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "James Allister Sprang: Artist in Residence". Exploratorium. Retrieved September 10, 2026.
- 1 2 "James Allister Sprang: Aquifer of the Weave". Chocolate Factory Theater. Retrieved September 10, 2026.
- 1 2 "James Allister Sprang: Rest Within the Wake (World Premiere)". Baryshnikov Arts. Retrieved September 10, 2026.
- 1 2 Arango, Jorge S. (January 28, 2024). "Art review: Trio of shows at the ICA includes moving, must-see installation". Portland Press Herald. Retrieved September 10, 2026.
- ↑ "James Allister Sprang at Baryshnikov Arts: Seeking Active "Rest Within the Wake"". Culturebot. October 2023. Retrieved September 10, 2026.
- ↑ "James Allister Sprang". The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Retrieved September 10, 2026.
External links
[edit]Category:1990 births Category:Living people Category:American installation artists Category:American sound artists Category:American male composers Category:21st-century American composers Category:Cooper Union alumni Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:Artists from Philadelphia