100 High St.
Peterborough, NH 03458
(603) 924-3886
MacDowell NYC
521 West 23rd St
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10011
(212) 535-9690
Freedom to create.
Loops & Layers: Past Work and Present Sound with Marcus Fischer
May 2, 2025
Visitors and residents of the Monadnock Region gathered last Friday for an ethereal performance and discussion with musician and interdisciplinary artist Marcus Fischer.
Fischer creates, collects, and transforms sound into immersive, layered compositions that accompany performances and exhibitions. He opened his presentation with a live sound work featuring a magnetic tape looping system—a signature element of his practice. As sound reverberated through Bass Hall at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture, the audience experienced a deeply visual and auditory encounter.
He shared how his work often combines sound and sculpture to tell stories that both honor and confront unsettling realities. The audience listened intently as he presented a video and sound recording of Mass, an installation that incorporates data on mass shootings in the U.S. into a 14-channel sound piece. Using spent bullet casings, speakers, and a brass bell, the work evokes the emotional gravity and scale of the tragedies it represents.
Before taking questions from the audience, Fischer spoke about the importance of collaboration in his creative process, noting how it brings fresh perspectives, new sounds, and innovative methods to his work. While at MacDowell, he is developing a new body of compositions and sound works for an upcoming installation.
Based in Portland, OR, Fischer is a first-generation American artist known for his immersive and layered compositions that blend sound, space, and memory. In 2019, he was the only Pacific Northwest artist included in the Whitney Biennial, contributing two sound works and two performances. In 2024, he was awarded the prestigious Hallie Ford Fellowship in the Visual Arts by The Ford Family Foundation. While at MacDowell, Fischer is developing a new body of compositions and sound works for an upcoming installation.
