IRL to URL. It's that thing where you record your thoughts on a painting in the exhibition, and that voice memo becomes part of an audio tour in the #SocialMedium Galleries. You voted for the paintings, now send us a soundbite telling our visitors what the paintings in the exhibition mean to you.


Peacock ♥ Negarra Kudumu

Stella ♥ Cory Gooch

Jessika Kenney. Audio clip from Anchor Zero, 2014. Three-channel video with twelve-channel audio. Composition and vocals by Jessika Kenney. Sound design and engineering by Mell Dettmer. Mixing by Mell Dettmer and Eyvind Kang.

Anchor Zero at the Frye Art Museum premieres a new composition by Kenney for spatialized anti-choir, presented in a large-scale sound and video installation specially commissioned by the Frye Art Museum for its galleries. Comprised of talismanic scores, ethereal imagery, and interactive spaces, Anchor Zero expresses a mysticism which posits itself in the midst of the tensions between personal and universal, traditions and immediacy, prayer and discourse. It explores an “emptiness practice” of wandering and sounding, which Kenney describes as a deep interiorization of vocalization that supports a heightened sense of external space.

Jessika Kenney: Anchor Zero Excerpt

Jessika Kenney. Avaz/Topos, excerpt from Anchor Zero, 2014. Stereo mix of twelve-channel audio. Composition and vocals by Jessika Kenney. Sound design and engineering by Mell Dettmer. Mixing by Mell Dettmer and Eyvind Kang.

Anchor Zero premieres a new composition by Kenney for spatialized anti-choir, presented in a large-scale sound and video installation specially commissioned by the Frye Art Museum for its galleries. Comprised of talismanic scores, ethereal imagery, and interactive spaces, Anchor Zero expresses a mysticism which posits itself in the midst of the tensions between personal and universal, traditions and immediacy, prayer and discourse. It explores an “emptiness practice” of wandering and sounding, which Kenney describes as a deep interiorization of vocalization that supports a heightened sense of external space.

Avaz/Topos - Anchor Zero Excerpt

Matt Briggs read October 10, 2 pm at the Frye Art Museum as part of the Literary Festival during Genius / 21 Century / Seattle.

Matt Briggs is the author of eight books. The Publication Studio recently released Virility Rituals of North American Teenage Boys, a collection of stories, and The Double E, a novel. Briggs first novel, Shoot the Buffalo, was a finalist for the 2006 Washington State Book Award and won the 2006 American Book Award. His stories have appeared in The Chicago Review, Word Riot, BULL, Spork, Birkensnake, ZYZYYVA, and elsewhere. He lives in Des Moines.

"Language Is An Abbreviation" by Matt Briggs

John Olson read October 10, 2 pm at the Frye Art Museum as part of the Literary Festival during Genius / 21 Century / Seattle.

John Olson is the author of numerous books of poetry, the most recent being Larynx Galaxy (Black Widow Press 2012). He is also the author of three novels, including The Seeing Machine, The Nothing That Is, and Souls of Wind, the latter of which was shortlisted for a Believer book of the year award in 2008. In 2004, Olson received The Stranger Genius Award for literature and in 2012 he was shortlisted for an Artist Trust Innovator Arts Award.

"Sock" by John Olson

Join Chris Jeffries and Sarah Rudinoff for performances of repartee and song, October 16, 7 pm, and October 17, 2 pm.

The first two Genius Award winners in Theater, Chris Jeffries (2003) and Sarah Rudinoff (2004) will present a night of scintillating repartee and song, created especially for The Frye Genius / 21 Century / Seattle exhibition. Composer/lyricist Chris Jeffries and performer Sarah Rudinoff have 50 years of experience between them in every kind of medium from camp to the avant-garde. The performance will include original music, interpreted classics and as much truth and lies as can be held in one evening.
—Chris Jeffries and Sarah Rudinoff

Chris Jeffries and Sarah Rudinoff in Conversation

See the short animated film created in collaboration between animator Web Crowell and author Stacey Levine on view as part of Genius / 21 Century / Seattle November 17–December 13, 2015.

Our animated piece reflects on humans vis-a-vis built environments, and how the civic arrangement affects us all. Our animated, absurdist tale emphasizes civically-related power (im)balances. Touching on urban isolation, hope, and transience, we respond to the drastic, sometimes thoughtless changes that have come to our city.
—Web Crowell and Stacey Levine

Web Crowell and Stacey Levine in Conversation

See You Always Leave Me Wanting More by SuttonBeresCuller installed at the Frye as part of Genius / 21 Century / Seattle, on view through January 8, 2014.

SuttonBeresCuller is a group of three Seattle based artists—John Sutton, Ben Beres, and Zac Culler—who have worked collaboratively since 2000. The trio’s work ranges in presentation from gallery works, to installation, performance, and public projects. Working in and outside of traditional gallery settings, they aim to engage and provoke unsuspecting audiences with their works which are often not what they seem.

SuttonBeresCuller’s work plays on identity, perception, and instinct. They create playful scenarios by reinterpreting archetypal objects and transforming them in material, space, and place. They have completed several public projects and commissions around the Seattle area and along the west coast. SuttonBeresCuller is represented by Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, and Gusford Gallery, Los Angeles.

Image: SuttonBeresCuller. You Always Leave Me Wanting More, 2015. Aluminum, enamel, LED lightbulbs, electronics, flooring. 27 1/2 x 33 ft. Courtesy of Greg Kucera Gallery. Photo: Mark Woods

SuttonBeresCuller in Conversation

John Osebold is at the Frye Art Museum Sunday, November 8, 2pm, presenting City Light. 

In lieu of a formal retrospective, John Osebold / Jose Bold put together a selection of music, theatrical moments, and video from his catalogue and re-arranged them, along with a few new bits, into a new work that showcases his penchant for unique arrangements, surreal humor, and Pacific Northwest imagery.

Preview of City Light with John Osebold

Founding Member of Seattle School, Korby Sears, discusses Strikethrough with Kelton Sears, music and comix editor at Seattle Weekly. Strikethrough takes place at the Frye November 14, 2015, 2 pm.

Strikethrough takes stock of art-making and art-consuming in the early 21st century—an era of ubiquitous marketing, hyper connectivity, over-documentation, and window-display lifestyles—and brings its inevitable conclusion to the here and now, 10-15 years early. Originally a year-long performance series that took place in 2008, Strikethrough asks artists to create an original performance work that will not be seen by any audience. The work is for the artists only.
—Seattle School

Seattle School Founding Member, Korby Sears, in Conversation with Kelton Sears

2014 Genius Performance winner, Valerie Curtis-Newton, and 2008 Genius Theater winner, Paul Mullin, discuss their manifestoes written for Genius / 21 Century / Seattle, their creative growth, and Seattle's theater world.



Valerie Curtis Newton And Paul Mullin in Conversation

See The Now I'm Fine Project on view for the duration of Genius / 21 Century / Seattle. Zia Mohajerjasbi, Charles Mudede, and Michael Seiwerath in collaboration with Ahamefule Oluo. The Now I’m Fine Project, 2015. Single channel digital video with audio. Excerpts from The Now I’m Fine Project, 4 minutes, 48 seconds. Excerpts from Now I’m Fine Live, 6 minutes, 24 seconds.

Charles Mudede and Michael Seiwerath on The Now I'm Fine Project

Free public art museum located on First Hill in Seattle, Washington exhibiting historical and contemporary artwork.

Frye Art Museum

Popular tracks