Since 2015, Ashley (Ash) Fure and I have been working together to bring several quotidian objects to life through unique interactions. Under the heading of an “Opera for Objects” (a playful homage to Alvin Lucier), Fure and percussion guests of the International Contemporary Ensemble (Levy Lorenzo, Dustin Donahue, Dennis Sullivan, Clara Warnaar) spent several years inventing and refining peculiar engagements with objects. The idea was both to animate the object, to give it a distinctive character, but also to denature the object so that it broke the stereotype of its humble, utilitarian existence. The large-scale work resulting from this was the Force of Things, an hour-long opera which has been performed in premier venues all over the United States (including Lincoln Center).

In 2017, Ash Fure and I worked in the Oktaven Audio Recording Studio to extract a core element of the Force of Things. This became her solo piece, Silver Lung II, for two 15-inch bare subwoofer cones and percussive objects.

The project with bare subwoofer cones lives on. Ash Fure’s current solo performances frequently feature this method and the work, Shiver Lung II, has been performed many times around the world. It is core to Fure’s highly-specific, very personalized approach to sound, composition, and performance. For PASIC 2026, I propose celebrating Ash Fure’s unique world with a performance of the 12-minute version (versions typically range from 9 to 16 minutes) of Shiver Lung II for the New Music Research Day.