Ess Whiteley: listening materials
August 29-October 17, 2026
Opening reception: Saturday, August 29, from 5-8 PM
Free and open to the public.
CATHERINE AND ROBERT PALMER GALLERY at the Athenaeum Art Center, 1955 Julian Avenue, San Diego, CA 92113
ess whiteley; photo credit: Robbie Bui
In Ess Whiteley: listening materials speaker cones filled with organic and inorganic matter (rocks, gravel, clay, metal), fans and harmonicas, are hung and placed throughout the Athenaeum. The space itself becomes a self-sounding resonant body, absent of any visible human agency or "performer." Various materials are animated by sound waves that cause them to vibrate, producing different self-organizing behaviors. The frequencies generate beating interference patterns that activate the materials in distinct ways, tuned specifically to interact with qualities of the Athenaeum itself — the room's natural resonances, HVAC system, and ambient noise — and as the listener moves through the space, the sonic material shifts depending on location.
Ess Whiteley: listening materials investigates the audible trace of various things meeting: frequencies, speaker cone membranes, matter, reeds, air, and room. Set into motion is a field of relations — wave meeting mineral density, wave meeting wave, air pressure meeting reed, ear meeting pressure wave — in which sound emerges only ever between materials: between frequencies close enough to produce interference patterns, between moving air and a still reed, between pressure waves and matter, between matter and force, between the room, matter, and listening subject. What reaches the ear is not only evidence of this meeting, this betweenness, but of matter's own capacity to act, resist, respond, and co-arise with the listener. Through this betweenness, the invisible agency of sound becomes visibly materialized, and matter’s vibrancy, agency, its being-there, made perceptible through sound.
Artist Biography:
Ess Whiteley is an NJ-born, West Coast-based composer and sound artist. Their diverse practice involves multidisciplinary works that combine electronics, acoustic instruments, multimedia, and repurposed materials to explore new modes of listening and the relationships between humans, technology, and the natural world. Their work has received the Martirano Composition Award and recognition from the MA/IN Matera Intermedia Festival and has been commissioned by acclaimed ensembles including Alarm Will Sound and Riot Ensemble. Whiteley's work has been presented internationally and featured by Pitchfork, The Wire, New Music Handbook, and Relevant Tones. They earned a Ph.D. in Composition from the University of California, San Diego.
The exhibition can be viewed in the Catherine and Robert Palmer Gallery at the Athenaeum Art Center (1955 Julian Avenue, San Diego, CA 92113) during open gallery hours, Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and every second Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m., during the Barrio Art Crawl, and by appointment.