Laura Ortman Live at 516 ARTS – Soundings

On September 5, 2025, composer and musician Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache) presented a newly commissioned performance developed in response to Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts.

Known for creating layered and dynamic soundscapes, Ortman draws on violin, voice, and experimental instrumentation. Her performance reflected the exhibition’s guiding questions around scores as calls for decolonization, and the ways sound can activate land, history, and collective presence. By bringing together improvisation, resonance, and movement between musical discourse, Ortman’s new work expands the exhibition’s exploration of sound as a transformative and relational practice.

This performance is part of the exhibition Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts.