Events

How does it feel to look at nothing

September 11-13, 2026

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art
15 NE Hancock St.
Portland, OR, 97212

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Credits: Dane DuPois

Using an improvised language of disintegration, How does it feel to look at nothing is an embodied pre-origin story of a Deity of Nothingness. An opera of the elemental, of pre-deities, and illusions of containment, this interdisciplinary performance emerges through a story of transitional states. Composer-performers, multi-instrumentalists, and vocalists Holland Andrews and yuniya edi kwon (2025 Creative Capital Awardees) co-create this work of composition, improvisation, dance, and ritual. Grounded in Holland and yuniya’s shared spiritual lineages and lives as partners, the opera explores the forces and conditions that compel life’s emergence, and the spiritual act of meaning-making during epochs of decay.

Holland Andrews

How does it feel to look at nothing

Holland Andrews Holland Andrews is a vocalist, clarinetist, composer, improviser, and electronic music artist whose work embraces emotional catharsis as a sonic vessel for healing and transformation.

Holland Andrews

yuniya edi kwon

How does it feel to look at nothing

Photo by Sabrina Santiago. yuniya edi kwon is a composer-improviser, violinist, vocalist, and interdisciplinary performance maker based in Lenapehoking, or New York City.

Photo by Sabrina Santiago.