Echo Network

Dance artist and creative technologist Christopher Knowlton premieres the dance, sound and technology performance Echo Network Fri Nov 13 & Sat 14 7:30pm in the CLEAT Listening and Performance Series at Elastic Arts in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago.

Echo Network is an experimental dance, sound and technology performance that explores networked synesthesia and the idea of sound as touch at a distance. The work draws biomimetic inspiration from mammals like dolphins, bats, wolves, elephants and whales who use echolocation, calls and songs to navigate low-visibility environments and strengthen social bonds. Real-time haptic data from muscle sensors and pressure-sensing insoles worn by collaborative performers Rachel Damon, Chrissy Martin and Dylan Roth drive immersive projections designed by Enki Andrews and spatialized soundscapes created by Scott Rubin for Elastic Art’s one-of-a-kind multichannel CLEAT system, allowing the dancers and audience to hear their movements. With elements first hatched during the 2023 Chicago Cultural Center Dance Studio Residency and further expanded in a 2025 work-in-progress showing Elaborate at the Claudia Cassidy Theatre, Echo Network experiments with new modes of non-verbal accessibility in dance. The project imagines a naturalized digital social network as a place for embodied connection as the ensemble navigates themes of discovery, play, exchange, migration and departure.

Elastic Arts and the Chicago Laboratory for Electro-Acoustic Theatre (CLEAT) are proud to present the CLEAT Listening and Performance Series, a monthly showcase where artists present work in an immersive, multichannel audio format. This series places the audience inside the sound, through a system of 16 omni-directional Hemisphere speakers conceived and built by Isobel Audio. CLEAT strives to move multichannel and spatialized sound experimentation beyond its usual home in academia, providing opportunities for artists of all backgrounds to imagine and then realize new possibilities for hybrid, multi-disciplinary sound works.

Location: Elastic Arts 3429 W Diversey Ave #208, Chicago, IL 60647 Dates: Friday 11/13 & Saturday 11/14 Time: Doors at 7pm, show at 7:30pm, est. 45 min runtime Tickets: $15 or $10 w/ Student ID, available at the door. Access notes: Elastic Arts is a second floor walkup and is not wheelchair accessible. Informal touch tours with the dancers will be offered before and after the performance for people who are blind or low-vision to improve their access and experience of the work.