Lonnie Holley is an African-American artist, musician & art educator. A true original with a generous, uplifting & warm spirit.

We welcome Lonnie back to The Cube for a two night residency of improvisation & deep feeling. No two shows are ever the same and it is always an honour to be in his company.

Since 1979, Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. Lonnie’s art and music are born out of struggle and hardship, but perhaps more importantly, out of a furious curiosity and biological necessity. 

That drive manifests in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, music, and filmmaking.  His art has been featured in exhibitions and publications throughout the world, and is in the collections of major museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Tate Modern & Camden Art Centre alongside many others. 

He has experimented with film, photography, and video throughout his career. His directorial debut, the narrative short I Snuck Off the Slave Ship, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. 

Free spirited, soulful music with a stream of consciousness energy that orbits similar visionaries such as Sun Ra, Joni Mitchell & Gil Scott-Heron. Lonnie has released seven critically acclaimed albums including Just Before Music (2012), MITH (included as one of the best albums of the decade by The New Yorker) & the latest Tonky, earlier this year. He has toured extensively throughout the United States and the Americas, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, sharing stages with Bon Iver, Shahzad Ismaily, Bill Callahan, Tinariwen, Daniel Lanois, Laraaji and others. 

Lonnie continues to make art, music, and as he puts it, “thoughtsmith,” from his home and studio in Atlanta, Georgia and around the world.

“I tell a lot of people, the universe is my studio” - Lonnie Holley

Shahzad Ismaily joins for both nights as a very special guest. Shahzad is an American multi-instrumentalist & composer of Pakistani descent who has worked in theatre & film and contributed his distinctive musical language to 100s of records by artists including Marc Ribot, John Zorn, Yoko Ono, Laraaji, Colin Stetson, Sam Amidon, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Laurie Anderson as well as a key presence on the grammy award winning albums of Arooj Aftab.

Allan Gilbert Balon was born in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe in 1986 and is now based in Créteil, in the Southeastern suburbs of Paris. Allan’s practice combines sculpture, composition & sound installations to explore themes of presence & intimacy.

He has released music on Recital Program & Séance Centre, exhibited at New York’s MoMA PS1 and played a UK debut earlier this year at London’s Cafe OTO. This represents a rare chance to see him perform.

Monday 10th November w/ Shahzad Ismaily & Allan Gilbert Balon

Tuesday 11th November w/ Shahzad Ismaily & Patricia Cadavid