Duration
8.10.26, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Info
Trained as a sculptor, Ellen Fullman is a composer, performer and instrument builder who has spent more than forty years developing and performing the Long String Instrument. Inspired by the composer and instrument builder Harry Partch and by Alvin Lucier's Music on a Long Thin Wire, the work is a large-scale installation that turns the room itself into the resonant body of the instrument. Fine wires stretch fifty feet or more across the space and are sounded with rosin-coated fingers, producing sustained, droning, organ-like tones and a shimmering density of overtones.
Fullman has developed this work through her research in just intonation tuning theory, a system based on the simple frequency relationships found in the harmonic series, as well as string harmonics and instrument design. Her compositional approach draws on the upper partials, the higher frequencies that naturally occur alongside a string’s fundamental pitch, allowing these subtle overtones to become a source of harmonic movement in the music.
For TUNE in October, Fullman will give two performances with The Long String Instrument on Wednesday the 7.10.26 and Thursday the 8.10.26, and take part in an free artist talk directly after the performance on the 8.10.26.
Tickets available soon.
Ellen Fullman After graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute with a BFA in Sculpture, Ellen Fullman began developing The Long String Instrument in her St. Paul, Minnesota studio in 1980 and moved to Brooklyn the following year. Inspired by composer and instrument builder Harry Partch and Alvin Lucier’s Music on a Long Thin Wire, Fullman's large-scale work creates droning, organ-like overtones that are as unique in the world of sound as her vision of the instrument itself. Through her research in just intonation tuning theory, string harmonics and musical instrument design, Fullman has developed a compositional and performative approach that expands harmonic motion through a focus on upper partial tones. She has recorded extensively with this unusual instrument and has resonated architectural spaces in festivals across the world including Festival d’Automne, Bourse de Commerce, Paris; The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles; Musica Festival, Strasbourg; Tectonics Festival Athens and The Sydney Festival. Awards include: Guggenheim Fellowship, Music Composition (2020); Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award, Music/Sound (2015); and DAAD, Artists-In-Berlin Program residency (2000). Her recordings include: Elemental View (Room40, 2025) with the Living Earth Show, included in The Wire's Modern Composition Top 10 of 2025; and Harbors (Room40, 2020) a collaboration with Theresa Wong. Her work was cited by Alvin Lucier in his book, Music 109: Notes on Experimental Music (Wesleyan University Press, 2012) and by David Byrne in: How Music Works (McSweeney's, 2012).