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2026 SONIC PAVILION FESTIVAL

Sonic Pavilion Festival 2026 presents seven 24-channel sound compositions for the globally unique trellised speaker array at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in the heart of downtown Chicago. The result is a canopy of sound—a fluid sonic architecture that bridges the focus of a live performance and the majesty of the surrounding cityscape.

This year’s Sonic Pavilion is part of America250, a national series of arts programs on the occasion of the 250th birthday of the United States. Each work draws inspiration from different communities in the U.S.

Saturday, September 12, 1-4pm
Sunday, September 13, 1-4pm
Monday, September 14, 5-8pm
All works play twice each day. Detailed schedule with play times to be released by August 30.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Millennium Park
201 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601

FREE and open to the public

Artists were selected in an international open call. The 2026 artists are:

Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh
Black Diamond (Hunter Diamond & Artie Black)
Courtney Werner & Many Hands (David Henderson)
Kikú Hibino & Traxman
Macie Stewart, Lia Kohl, Whitney Johnson
M. Azevedo
Sadie Woods

Scroll down for descriptions of each sound work and artist bios.

Sonic Pavilion Festival is developed by Experimental Sound Studio and is presented by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). This event is supported by the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

KIKÙ HIBINO & TRAXMAN

Sound artist Kikù Hibino and footwork pioneer Traxman transform Chicago footwork into immersive spatial sound across the Pavilion’s 24-channel array—a sonic portrait of a city continually renewed through migration and creative exchange. The collaboration brings together footwork’s living tradition and the experimental practice of a Japanese-born immigrant artist, turning the Pavilion itself into a compositional instrument.

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Kikù Hibino is a Japanese-born, Chicago-based sound artist and composer working across multichannel installation, spatial sound, and experimental electronic music. Through voice, text, synthesized sound, and noise, he explores the interference between language and electronic sound, creating immersive sonic environments that examine perception and non-linear temporality. He is also the founder and director of Signal Noise, an independent platform for avant-garde sound and video art. Recent releases include Sky Trajectories (2024), Fell to Fern (2022), and Rococo ∞ Echomatter (Superpang, 2026), a collaborative album with Merzbow.

Traxman (Cornelius Ferguson) is a foundational figure in Chicago footwork and one of the longest-serving producers in Chicago house and footwork, with roots reaching back to the 1990s ghetto-house era on Dance Mania. A member of the Teklife crew and founder of Tekk DJz, he helped define the genre’s rhythmic language across releases on Planet Mu, Lit City Trax, and Teklife—including the acclaimed Da Mind of Traxman (Planet Mu, 2012). A prolific crate-digger, he remains a central architect of Chicago’s footwork sound.

Released by Superpang, Rococo ∞ Echomatter by Kikù Hibino and Merzbow is now available directly from Signal Noise, with worldwide shipping from Chicago.

OUT today — Rococo ∞ Echomatter

via Superpang

Black-and-white abstract artwork by Joe Gilmore for “saxxxrum (ft. Patrick Shiroishi)” by Kikù Hibino and Merzbow.

dB.XYZ — first single from Rococo ∞ Echomatter (with Merzbow).

The title comes from imagining loudness (dB) occupying spatial coordinates (XYZ): a space of extreme noise without body or presence. The track explores what happens when a voice enters this space — an experiment that revealed the logic of the entire album.

Available now via album pre-order.

Noise can swallow you. Noise can destroy you. And, at the same time, harsh noise can soothe you. It can manifest love and connect people, the way it connected legendary noise magician Merzbow and Kikù Hibino, a Chicago-based sound artist and the director of Signal Noise, an independent platform for avant-garde sound and video art.

db.XYZ, the first single from their upcoming collaborative album, caught our attention from the first seconds. Why and how? Read our interview with Kikù Hibino and learn.

Kikù Hibino is a participating artist in Carrier, curated by Bosco Bae and John Neff at Co-Prosperity, Chicago (2026). The exhibition concludes with a closing sound performance responding to Gregory Bae’s scroll-based work.

March 13, 2026; Friday