corey smith
composer, writer, performer

abouts

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CV

 

CV

education

School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Master of Fine Arts, Performance.
Anticipated completion May 2021.

University of Michigan: Ann Arbor.
Bachelor of Music, Composition with Highest Honors.
2010-2014.

awards / residencies

2019 Light Box Artist Residency, Detroit, MI
2018 Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Individual Artist Program
2018 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant
2017 Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Individual Artist Program
2017 Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Artist in Residence
2017 Pivot Arts Arts Incubator Sponsorship
2016 Iowa Lakeside Laboratory Artist in Residence
2016 Mess Hall Featured Artist - The Coincidentals
2015 IndieGoGo Suburban Piano Quartet Campaign
2014 Grin City Emerging Artists Residency, Grinnell, IA


Solo artistic work

The New Prairie School  | 2014-present
A sequence of works interrogating the American Midwest.

The New Prairie School at the Emil Bach House
Performance (45')
Premiered at the Emil Bach House, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home in Chicago.
Recipient of 2018 DCASE Individual Artist Grant

an abridged history of the tallest buildings in the midwest
Essay
As part of Belt Publishing’s Midwest Architecture Journeys, edited by Zach Mortice

an abridged history of the tallest buildings in the midwest
Performance (45’)
Premiered at CMAP, Detroit, MI November 2018 as part of the Detroit Fringe Festival

The New Prairie School at the Colvin House
Performance (90’)
Premiered at the Colvin House,Chicago, IL June 2018 as part of the 2018 Pivot Arts Festival

The New Prairie School
Performance (90’)
Premiered at Links Hall, Chicago, IL January 2018
Recipient of 2017 DCASE Individual Artist Grant

Notes for a New Prairie School
Five-part artbook in collaboration with Match Books Press
Released 2017

First Study for a New Prairie School
Video (66’)
Premiered at the 2017 Tallgrass Artist Residency Group Exhibition, The Bank Art Space, Matfield Green, KS.

Second Study for a New Prairie School (prairie interventions)
Video (42’)
Premiered at the 2017 Tallgrass Artist Residency Group Exhibition, The Bank Art Space, Matfield Green, KS.

Third Study for a New Prairie School (prairie vespers)
Video (14’)
Premiered at the 2017 Tallgrass Artist Residency Group Exhibition, The Bank Art Space, Matfield Green, KS.

TAKE/COVER! | 2014-present
Solo performance (45’)
Premiered at Rurally Good Arts Festival, Grinnell, IA.

AFRAID | 2020
Video (4')
Commissioned by the 2020 Pivot Arts Festival.

Knee Machine | 2019
Performance (indeterminate length)
Premiered at GATHER, Comfort Station Logan Square, Chicago, IL. Fall 2019

JRTC | 2019
Performance (30')
Premiered at WE SERIES, Elastic Arts, Chicago, IL. Fall 2019

The Birthday of Everyone i Know. | 2015
Solo performance (indeterminate length)
Premiered at Y-Portraits, presented by MOZAWA, Chicago, IL. Summer 2015

The Invention of Falling | 2014
Multimedia performance (30’)
Premiered at Grinnell Arts Center, Grinnell, IA. Summer 2014

A a aA abacus | 2013
Multimedia performance (70’)
Premiered at Duderstadt Video Studio, Ann Arbor, MI. Fall 2013


music composition

Almanac for trumpet and electronics (35’)
Premiered at Stamps Auditorium, Ann Arbor, MI. Spring 2017
Commissioned by Amanda Ross through the University of Michigan EXCEL Lab

Great Lake Vespers (48’)
Premiered at Lake West Okoboji, IA. Spring 2016

Atlas, as he is seen through a prism for solo cello (5’)
Premiered at Stamps Auditorium, Ann Arbor, MI. Fall 2012

Gesture No. 1 for open instrumentation (indeterminate length)
Premiered at Briton Recital Hall, Ann Arbor, MI. Fall 2012

Have you ever admired beautiful, wild horses? for soprano and piano (7’)
Premiered at The University of Vermont Recital Hall, Burlington, VT. Summer 2012

Meditation on Ascension for string quartet (9’)
Premiered at The University of Vermont Recital Hall, Burlington, VT. Summer 2012

darkwater,radiant for accordion, two performers, and three trumpets (20’)
Premiered at Briton Recital Hall, Ann Arbor, MI. Spring 2012

Meditation Prelude for organ (16’)
Premiered at Bethlehem United Church of Christ, Ann Arbor, MI. Spring 2012

Streets for saxophone duet (17’)
Premiered at Briton Recital Hall, Ann Arbor, MI. Winter 2013.


collaborative performances

2019 | Invitation to a Beheading
collaboration with Michael Brown in association with Rough House Puppet Theater Company

2019 | The Silence in Harrow House
sound design with Rough House Puppet Theater Company

2018 | Noise swims by: Writing for a theater to come
collaboration with Every House Has a Door
as part of the The Fourth Annual Festival of Poets Theater at Sector 2337

2018 | nevernotmusic
invited performer to realize Udita Upadhyaya’s score, UNFOLD (INTO YOU)
realized as Multimedia Performance (20 minutes)
a part of nevernotmusic, an installation at Roman Susan

2018 | Breath
devisor and performer with Maddy Low
Multimedia Performance (8 minutes)

2018 | The Walls of Harrow House
sound design with Rough House Puppet Theater Company

2017 | We Are a LightHouse
assistant director and composer with director Lindsey Barlag-Thornton
Multimedia Performance (60 minutes)
Premiered as a part of Links Hall’s SET FREE residency

2017 | AN INTERDIMENSIONAL LOVE STORY
foley artist with puppeteer, Myra Su
Premiered as part of the 2017 Chicago International Puppet Festival

2015-2016 | THIS
performer and devisor with director Lindsey Barlag Thornton and ensemble
Multimedia Performance (60 minutes)

2015 | EIGHT EASY STEPS TO BE LESS BLAND
collaboration with Kirsten Carey Guerrilla
Multimedia performance (30 minutes)

2013-2015 | The Ulysses Project
narrator with Kirsten Carey and musicians
Free jazz opera (45 minutes)

2013 | Who is Luther Burbank
collaboration with Nola Smith and Willie Filkowski
Experimental dance-theatre (45 minutes)


long standing collaborations

2016-present | ROUGH HOUSE
Sound design and performance with puppet theater company, Rough House

2015-present | CURRENT BIOGRAPHY
Queer performance duo with Ashley Hollingshead
Performances include:
Just Want to Try You On (45’)
Getting to Know You (45’)
ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE ANYTHING CAN BE ACHIEVED! (8’)

2012 - present | THE SUBURBAN PIANO QUARTET
Co-director. Experimental performance ensemble.
Performances include:
About a Block (50’)
Winter Songs (45’)
drone music (73’)
Requiem in Water (75’)
what’s gone to sky (45’)
There is No Jazz in Idaho (30’) in collaboration with Kirsten Carey
Plail (30’) in collaboration with Betsy Soukup
some people fly by in a helicopter (45’)
nineteen days the sun (90’) in collaboration with Diana Sussman
the space between things (45’)

exhibitions

None of Us is Who We Were
SparkFest 2018, a part of Bath Fringe Festival 2018. Bath, UK. 6/1/18
Chicago, Video Installation with Jill Moshman

About a block
Roman/Susan. Chicago, IL. 6/30/18 - 7/8/18
Installation and performance with The Suburban Piano Quartet.

Property
Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society, with Roman/Susan. Chicago, IL. 4/1/17 - 5/5/17
for the granada, Video

Quorum Year 1 — JKL Collective
Positive Space Studios, Chicago, IL. 8/6/17
Three Studies on Navigation, Video

2017 Tallgrass Artist Residency Group Exhibition
The Bank, Matfield Green, KS. 9/23/17 - 11/19/17
First Study for a New Prairie School, Video
Second Study for a New Prairie School (prairie interventions), Video
Third Study for a New Prairie School (prairie vespers), Video

2018 Iowa Lakeside Laboratory Group Exhibition
PS1, Iowa City, IA. 3/2/18 - 3/25/18
Great Lake Vespers, Video

Moving_Image_00:03
Lithium Gallery, Chicago, IL. 3/23/18
Three Studies on Navigation, Video


publications

Notes for a New Prairie School
Five-part artbook in collaboration with Match Books Press
Released 2017

an abridged history of the tallest buildings in the midwest
Essay
A part of Belt Publishing’s Midwest Architecture Journeys, edited by Zach Mortice


…miscellaneous...

Founding Member, between the tongue and the taste
Art Writing Critique Group. 2017-2018 at Wedge Projects, Chicago, IL.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Artist Symposium
Presentation on work and residency. 9/23/17 Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, Kansas.

Workshop leader, object/text.
Workshop with a focus on devising performance, associations between imagistic and textual elements, and the cannon of performance art. 3/23/14 Living Arts at the University of Michigan.

Rehearsal Choreographer, Willie Filkowski Welcomes You to FLORIDA: THE SUNSHINE STATE.
Multimedia Performance. 4/17/15 Premiered at the Duderstadt Center. Ann Arbor, MI.

New Music on the Point
Studies with Kathryn Alexander, Laura Schwendinger. Workshop with JACK Quartet. Summer 2012


press

2/27/19 - Scapi Magazine: “What Does it Mean to be in a House that No One Lives In? A Conversation with artist Corey Smith”
2/7/19 - Architectural Digest: “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Emil Bach House Plays Host to an Experiential Performance”
2/2/19 - Radio Interview with BUILDINGS ON AIR
1/11/18 - Interview with SCAPI RADIO
10/14/18 - Chicago Stage Standard Review of THE WALLS OF HARROW HOUSE
6/9/18 - See Chicago Dance Review of THE NEW PRAIRIE SCHOOL AT THE COLVIN HOUSE
1/24/18 - Podcast Interview with SOME SMALL MAGIC
1/20/18 - Art Intercepts Review of THE NEW PRAIRIE SCHOOL
1/20/18 - Chicago Stage Standard Review of THE NEW PRAIRIE SCHOOL
1/10/18 - Interview with SCAPI RADIO
9/10/17 - Windy City Times Review of CICADA SUMMER
9/2/17 - Chicago Theater Beat Review of CICADA SUMMER
9/2/17 - Chicago Stage Standard Review of CICADA SUMMER


press quotes

“When the piece crescendos, the sound rises from everywhere at once, completely enveloping you. It’s surreal and overwhelming, but also indescribably beautiful.”
-Leigh Kunkel Preview of ESSAY ON THE EMIL BACH HOUSE for Architectural Digest

"The real hero of the show is sound designer Corey Smith. The sound of cicadas is etched into the DNA of anyone who has been a child in the Midwest."
-Angela Allyn Review of CICADA SUMMER for Chicago Stage Standard

“Refreshingly, there were no loose or unconsidered ends in this work. All three performers, Smith and Saxe especially, had excellent stage presence and worked terrifically well as an ensemble. The music and sound design (by Smith) was particularly fantastic and Smith is an excellent front man”
-Joanna Furnans Review of THE NEW PRAIRIE SCHOOL for Art Intercepts