Clara Kent & Ian Brill Freshworks Showing: Aura: Reimagined
KST Presents
Aura: Reimagined
Freshworks Residency Showing
Friday – Saturday, December 10 & 11
8:00pm
KST’s Alloy Studios | 5530 Penn Ave.
Pay What Makes You Happy!
Clara Kent is an Afro-Oglala Lakota singer-songwriter and emcee from Homewood, PA, whose integrity and range in creating music, visual art, events, and connections within the community have made her well known amongst many organizations in Pittsburgh, her peers, and the music community. Pittsburgh Resident Ian Brill creates interactive, performative, and multisensory environments that focus on the accumulation of form through process. Utilizing light sculptures and soundscapes with vocal arrangements, Aura: Reimagined is a personal testament by Clara Kent surrounding the experiences of Black artists in the city. Displaying narratives of frustration, celebration, and most importantly, facing the mirror of self-reflection, the work will merge art and music to immerse the audience into a new world where they can experience the music as it is performed.
Freshworks is KST’s creative residency for Pittsburgh based artists and collaborators. The program provides artists with financial resources, studio space, production staff, lighting and sound design, professional development, and encouragement for creative risk taking. through interdisciplinary collaborations in contemporary dance, theater, music, and multimedia.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Clara Kent is an Afro-Oglala Lakota singer-songwriter and emcee from Homewood, Pa, a Pittsburgh neighborhood known for its talented people. Clara is a self-proclaimed Multidimensional Artistic Individual for very valid reasons. Clara Kent’s integrity and range in creating music, visual art, events, and connections within the community have made her well known amongst peers, the music community, and many organizations in Pittsburgh.
Clara is a wearer of many hats! Most known for her professional music sombrero, Clara Kent has graced many notable stages across the country. Tempo Networks Grammy Broadcast at BBKings in Time Square, Opener for Wyclef Jean at SXSW, WYEP Summerfest 2019, Comcast’s Light Up Night 2018 & 2019, a 2019 Sofar Sounds Tour, Return the Heart Foundation Broadcast with Mac DeMarco, and many more. Kent earned a cover feature in the Pittsburgh City Paper in April 2018, named “Person of the Year: Music” 2019, and most recently landed an international feature in Photo Vogue Italia in May 2021.
Kent is set to re-release her statement project AURA under the title ‘Aura’s Imagination,’ featuring tracks and collaborations by Yorel Tifsim, Benji., Mani Bahia, and Tribe Eternal’s Bilal Abbey and Pharaoh Lum in early Spring of 2022.
Pittsburgh Resident Ian Brill‘s work focuses on the accumulation of form through process. Through the creation of interactive, performative, and multi-sensorial environments, he considers the boundaries of becoming (versus being) and our immersive relationship with technology. His installations, performances, and writing have been presented internationally, at conferences, festivals, museums, and galleries. Currently, he teaches at Penn State University.