TRANSMISSION ART ARCHIVE
Maria Chavez
Maria Chavez during the Wave Farm Pirate Radio Reunion Cruise. . Photographed by Thatcher Keats. (Mar 09, 2017)
Born in Lima, Peru and based in New York City, Maria Chávez is best known as an abstract turntablist, sound artist, and DJ. Coincidence, chance, and failures are themes that unite her book objects, sound sculptures, installations, and other works with her improvised solo turntable performance practice. Chavez is pictured on the cover of the textbook on the Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Routledge: 2015), is a David Tudor and Robert Rauschenberg Arts Fellow, and a Research Fellow for Goldsmith's Sound Practice Research Department. Her large scale sound and multi-media installations along with other works have been shown at the Getty Museum, the JUDD Foundation, Documenta 14 in Kassel, Germany and HeK (Haus der elektronischen Künste Basel) among many other institutions around the world. Following a recent medical sabbatical due to receiving brain surgery in 2019, Maria has now returned to performing for a global audience. Her album Maria Chavez PLAYS Stefan Goldmann’s Ghost hemiola was nominated for a Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 2020. Chavez's album with Jordi Wheeler The Kitchen Series 1-5 (Takeroku) was released in 2020, as was her Live at Jewel's Catch One (Ratskin Records) with collaborator Lucas Gorham. Chavez served as guest faculty for Bard University’s Sound Art MFA department in the summer of 2021.