Sonic Pavillion 2026

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 invites deep listening against the backdrop 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.

KIKÙ HIBINO & TRAXMAN
NOONNOONNOON
9/12 & 9/13, 1:39 & 3:09 P.M.
9/14, 5:39 & 7:09 P.M.

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.