C. Lavender (Lavender Suarez) Sound -- Artist, Healing Practitioner, Educator
C. Lavender (Lavender Suarez) is an interdisciplinary sound artist, sound healing practitioner, and educator. Her work spans live performances, recordings, installations, compositions, videos and workshops. She creates immersive aural landscapes for listeners through spatial audio, experiences which are intensely physical, emotional, and ultimately cathartic. Bandcamp asserted, "C. Lavender makes music with curative powers, but it's also confrontational, primed to change you whether or not you want it to." In 2022, she premiered her spatial audio composition "Oneness" for a Wave field synthesis system featuring 192 speakers at A+E Lab in England. She is the author of the "beautiful, inspiring, and exceedingly timely" (Flaunt Magazine) book Transcendent Waves: How Listening Shapes Our Creative Lives (Anthology Editions), which delves into how listening can be a powerful source of inspiration. She previously taught sound design for film and video games at the Museum of the Moving Image and was an assistant to the late "Deep Listening" composer Pauline Oliveros. C. Lavender has performed, lectured, and hosted workshops at MoMA, The Whitney, The Guggenheim, Hirshhorn Museum, The Rubin Museum, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Fridman Gallery, Cafe Oto, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, among other venues. She has albums and recordings featured on Editions Mego, Ecstatic Peace! and RVNG Intl. C. Lavender has been artist-in-residence at Pioneer Works, Harvestworks, A+E Lab (UK), and Wave Farm. Her latest full-length album, "Rupture in the Eternal Realm," was released by iDEAL Recordings and is a musical reinterpretation and compendium of her experience studying a Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice centred on detachment from one's body.
Short Bio for Press: C. Lavender (Lavender Suarez) is an interdisciplinary sound artist, sound healing practitioner, and educator based in New York City. Bandcamp asserted that "C. Lavender makes music with curative powers, but it's also confrontational, primed to change you whether or not you want it to." She is the author of the insightful book "Transcendent Waves: How Listening Shapes Our Creative Lives." C. Lavender has albums and recordings featured on Editions Mego, Ecstatic Peace!, and RVNG Intl. Her latest album "Rupture in the Eternal Realm," (iDEAL Recordings) explores her varied meditative practices through the use of Buchla synthesizer, gongs and field recordings.
Selected Exhibitions and Performances 2024 Avalon Lounge Rozart Mix Album Release: Collaborative tape loop performance with Aaron Dilloway and John Wiese School of Contemporary Dance & Thought Quad Spatial Audio Work Premiere | Northampton, MA Whale Arts Meditative Music Performance for Scottish non-profit organization | Edinburgh, Scotland
2023 Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art Meditative Performance + Mixtape for the "Invisible Thread" exhibit | Auburn, AL Basilica - 24 Hour Drone Fest 3 Hour Sunrise Performance | Hudson, NY Printed Matter "Transcendent Waves" Book Talk with Bibbe Hansen | New York, NY Epsilon Spires Improvisation for Pipe Organ and Modular Synth | Brattleboro, VT Flex Theater Percussion/Electronics Duo with Jake Meginsky and Dancers Chris Aiken and Angie Hauser | Northampton, MA Fridman Gallery 8- Channel Performance as part of "Interior Resonances" Show | New York, NY Harvestworks Quad performance on Govenor's Island | New York, NY
2022 A+E Lab "Oneness for Wave Field Synthesis" Spatial Audio Work for 192 speaker Wave Field Synthesis System | This project was supported, in part, by a Foundation for ContemporaryArts Emergency Grant| Chatham, UK Cafe Oto Performance for Electronics & Small Percussion | London, UK Rockaway Film Fest Live score for "Pond & Waterfall" by filmmaker Barbara Hammer | NYC Fridman Gallery "Peripheral Listening" 10-person Collective Group Improvisation curated by Daniel Neumann | NYC Center for Art, Research & Alliances (CARA) Discussion about listening & meditative sound bath | NYC The Bunker - Going in Duo with Matthew Regula | Virtual Radiophrenia "Circadian Rhythm Radio" | Glasgow, SCT/Virtual Franklin Furance Performance Dedicated to performance artist Linda Mary Montano | NYC/Virtual
2021 John Cage Trust "Rozart Mix" performer, realization by Aaron Dilloway | Annandale-on-Hudson, NY National Sawdust Performance via City Artist Corps Grant | NYC Bemis CenterPerformance | Omaha, NE Send + Receive Fest Multichannel Audio Installation | Winnipeg, Canada Museum of Moving Image "A Day in Jackson Heights" Audio Installation | Queens, NY Currents.FM "Editions Mego Presents" | Virtual
2020 The Whitney Museum "Sound Bath" Virtual Performance| New York, NY Fridman Gallery“The Impulse Chamber” Virtual A/V Performance| New York, NY Everyseeker Festival "Sound Bath" Virtual Performance | Virtual/Canada De Appel Audio Installation, Listening Session| Amsterdam, NL Screenslate "New Age Sound & Vision" Film Curation, Short Film Presentation, Discussion w/Robert Beatty | Virtual
2019 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum “Organ Within” Performance | New York, NY Hirshorn Museum “Sonic Meditation: Pulse Index” Performance in Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s “Pulse” Installation | Washington, DC Lincoln Park Conservatory Experimental Sound Studio Commission| "Terraforming a Sanctuary" Multichannel Audio Installation | Chicago, IL Public Records Performance | New York, NY Ende Tymes FestivalPerformance| New York, NY Park Place Gallery ARTSCIENCE“Macrophagic Notturno” Audio Installation w/Sculpture | New York, NY
2018 The Rubin Museum The World is Sound “Meditating with Sound” Lecture, Performance | New York, NY Issue Project Room “Transmutation Helix” Multichannel A/V performance | New York, NY Gas Take Care, “Sagittal Plane Interference” Meditative Audio Installation | Los Angeles, CA
2016 Basilica Soundscape Festival Performance| Hudson, NY 2015MoMA PS 1 Psychoacoustics Vol 1 Lecture, Performance| New York, NY 2014 Roulette Mixology FestivalPerformance | New York, NY
Residencies 2021 Harvestworks Artist-in-Residence | New York, NY 2020 Harvestworks Max/MSPTechnology Immersion Program Scholar | New York, NY 2020 Pioneer Works Musician-in-Residence | New York, NY 2019 Kurimanzutto GalleryComposing & Performing With Tarek Atoui’s “Organ Within” Expanded Instrument | New York, NY 2016Wave Farm“Circadian Rhythm Radio”Radio Program ft Field Recordings to Correspond with the Sleep/Wake Cycle | Acra, NY
Workshops & Lectures 2022 Museum of Moving Image "Indie Game Makers" One Week Course for Pre-Teens About Video Game Design | Queens, NY Smith College "Embodiment of Sound" Lecture, Graduate Dance Dept | Northampton, MA/Virtual ImmersedSoundspace Explorations Panelist | Virtual Saffron 7 Days of Sound x Subpac "Feeling Sound: The Embodiment of Listening" Workshop | Virtual Philosophical Research Society Sound Healing Lecture & Workshop | Los Angeles, CA/Virtual UCLA Sound Design Lecture | Los Angeles, CA/Virtual
2021 Museum of Moving Image "The Frequency of Fear: The Power and the Glory of the Motion Picture Soundtrack" with Dean Hurley | Curator, Moderator |Queens, NY Museum of Moving Image "Field Recording" Outdoor Public Field Recording Workshop for Children & Adults |Queens, NY Museum of Moving Image Sound Design Lectures, Workshops, for the Edu Dept of MoMI, Public School Teachers & Teens |Queens, NY Pioneer Works "Lavender Suarez & Brandon Stosuy: On Creativity" | New York, NY Parsons School of Design “Listening for Revolution” Artist Presentation & Lecture | New York, NY Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts "Sound + Vision" Artist Presentation & Lecture | New York, NY University of Buffalo "Sound & Field" Artist Presentation & Lecture | Buffalo, NY
2020 Brooklyn Public Library "Meditation for Teens"Workshop Series | New York, NY Pioneer Works “Meditation for Creative Expression” Workshop Series Exploring Sound Healing, Meditation & Art Therapy | New York, NY
2019 Museum of Modern Art “Found Sound: Field Recording Workshop” Lecture, Performance and Workshop | NYC Renesselaer Polytechnic Institute “Deep Listening & The Physical Properties of Sound” Lecture and workshop | Troy, NY
2016 Brooklyn Botanic Garden “Listening in The Leaves” Lecture and workshop | New York, NY Kites Nest “All Ears”Ten Week/50-Hour Class About The Scientific & Creative Aspects of Sound for Pre-Teens | Hudson, NY
Publications Hii Magazine"Pervasive Hiss: Domestic Noise Pollution PSA" Writer/Sound Collage Stay Inspired Contributor, by Brandon Stosuy | Abrams Books (2021) Transcendent Waves: How Listening Shapes Our Creative Lives | Anthology Editions (2020) Make Time for Creativity Contributor, by Brandon Stosuy | Abrams Books (2020)
2021 "Longform Editions Curates A Digital Gallery for Listening" Bandcamp "Notes on Muxture" Transom "Positive Vibrations" Departures Magazine "Where Can Sound Take Us? Innovators in Electronic Music" Henry Ford Magazine (pgs 54-57) "C. Lavender, "Transient Seclusion" Foxy Digitalis "Transcendent Waves Book Review: Sound Healer Lavender Suarez Guides Us on an Infinite Sonic Journey" Redefine Magazine "Gamelan-Inspired Electronics, 100 MPH Noise, Toddler Synthpop, & More" Bandcamp "Books Every Traveler Should Read" (for "Transcendent Waves") Here Magazine "Aquarium Drunkard Book Club Part 2" (for "Transcendent Waves") Aquarium Drunkard "Top 10 - Music Books" Random Rave Project "How We Listen: A Group Discussion on Our Myriad Interactions With Sound" Varyer "Portrait of An Artist: Lavender Suarez" The Harvard Crimson
2020 "The Best Experimental Albums of 2020" (for "Myth of Equilibrium") Bandcamp "The Acid Tests Best Albums of 2020" (for "Myth of Equilibrium") Bandcamp "On 'Myth of Equilibrium' C. Lavender Finds Her Calling: Sound Healing" Bandcamp "To Listen is To Heal" Flaunt Magazine "Transcendent Waves, a book by Lavender Suarez" Flash Art Magazine "9 Books You Should Be Reading This December" Inside Hook "Lavender Suarez" Women in Sound Zine "Lavender Suarez" NY Yoga + Life Magazine "Lend Your Ears to The Boston Pops or A Sound Bath" The New York Times "Myth of Equilibrium" Album Review Wire Magazine Issue 435 "How To Boost Your Creativity Through Sound Healing" Art Zealous "Woman of Interest: Sound Healer Lavender Suarez Rides Transcendent Waves" Audiofemme "30 Albums We Played Like Mad in 2020" Dissonant Magazine 'On The Power of Intention - Musician and sound healer Lavender Suarez on the power of intention, understanding how sounds affect the mind and body, and the value of opening up your senses in order to take in everything." The Creative Independent "C. Lavender, brainwave weaving patterns in sonic healing and creative processes" Clot Magazine "C. Lavender Makes Us A Chill Out Mix" Self Titled Magazine "Hanson Records Cassettes" (for "Secret Destroyed Instantly" with Aaron Dilloway) Half Speed Detail
Earlier "take care," Artforum 2018 "Fluorescent Tubes And Psychedelic Bass Mark This Year's Mixology Festival The Creators Project2014 "A Festival of Noise and Experimental Liberation" Hyperallergic2014 "Highlights from Ende Tymes Festival" Village Voice 2014