NON:op Artistic Director and Composer Christopher Preissing and North Carolina-based author Amey Miller are collaborating on a ‘sound-book’ called In Search of Margaretta Black. “Occasioned by the genealogical search for an ancestor of uncertain parentage, and through a process of collecting, arranging, rummaging and ruminating materials—both sound and text—the [project] is a miscellany that mimics the actual Directory of the Borough of West Chester for 1857 in many particulars of contents and layout. It includes a narrator’s essay, genealogical charts, maps, timelines and interactive audio and website.” They plan to use ESS’s facilities and technicians to “support the collection of field recordings and location recordings of original texts, mixing to stereo and 5.1 surround sound, and MAX-MSP/Jitter programming for digital and web formats.”

The piece will be exhibited as part of the Artist Residency Program 2016 Showcase—a presentation of the work of this year’s artists completed during their residencies. The 2016 Artist Residency Program is made possible thanks once again to a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works Program.