Guild Hall William P. Rayner Artists-in-Residence Holland Andrews and yuniya edi kwon share an in-process presentation of their experimental opera, How does it feel to look at nothing.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO LOOK AT NOTHING is an experimental opera and embodied pre-origin story of a Deity of Nothingness. Working through an improvised language of disintegration, the project blends composition, improvisation, movement, and ritual to explore the forces and conditions that compel life’s emergence, and the spiritual act of meaning-making during epochs of decay. Grounded in their shared spiritual lineages and lives as partners, the work is shaped by Holland and yuniya’s lived experiences as trans artists of color, engaging questions of queer parenthood, trans pregnancy, and contemporary socio-political disintegration through a poetic, elemental lens.

The in-process showing offers a glimpse into the evolving performance language of the work, as Holland and yuniya appear as composer-performers, soloists, and multi-instrumentalists. Drawing from Korean Shamanic Ritual, channeled singing, contemporary opera, American experimentalism, punk and hardcore, and Japanese Butoh, they embody fluid and entangled identities—elemental force, deity, witness, child, parent, and memory—within a living, syncretic creative process.

Creators / Composer-Performers / Soloists: Holland Andrews & yuniya edi kwon
Creative Producer: Roya Amirsoleymani
Sound Design: Lester St. Louis
Lighting & Production: Maggie Heath
Scenic Design: KC Englander
Stage Manager: Ariana Swei
Costume Design: Bonan Li
Movement Coach: Marie Lloyd Paspe

How does it feel to look at nothing has received support from a Guggenheim Fellowship, Creative Capital Award, Sweat Variant’s Artists Supporting Artists Program Grant, and the Baroness Nina von Maltzahn Fellowship from The Watermill Center. The project has been developing in residencies at Teatro Municipal do Porto (Portugal), National Sawdust, BAM, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, Shadowcliff Artist Residency, The Watermill Center, and Guild Hall. The project’s lead commissioner is John C. Robinson, with special thanks to Chiwoniso Kaitano. The project is powered by its 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, Producer Hub.

How does it feel to look at nothing will have its world premiere in Fall 2026 before touring nationally and internationally.

 

  • Holland Andrews

    Holland Andrews (they/them) is a vocalist, composer, producer, and performer whose work focuses on the abstraction of operatic and extended-technique voice to build soundscapes encompassing both catharsis and dissonance. Frequently highlighting themes surrounding vulnerability and healing, Andrews arranges music for voice, clarinet, and electronics. By blending live processing of voice and clarinet along with synth and based electronic music produced by Andrews, they create a realm of live performance that is boundlessly present and expansive. Notable musical collaborations include Nils Frahm, Son Lux, Christina Vantzou, William Brittelle, Peter Broderick, and Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste. Andrews also develops and performs soundscapes for dance, theater, sound installations, and film, and their work is toured internationally with artists such as Bill T. Jones, Sonya Tayeh, Dorothée Munyaneza, and Will Rawls. They have two sound installations featured in the 2024 Whitney Biennial exhibition and will be part of the Biennial's performance program. Andrews is a Guggenheim Fellow, Creative Capital Awardee, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Awardee and United States Artists Fellow.

    hollandandrews.com @holland.andrews

    Photo: Ariel Crocker

  • yuniya edi kwon

    yuniya edi kwon (she/her) is a violinist, vocalist, and interdisciplinary performance artist based in New York City. Her practice connects composition, improvisation, movement, and ceremony to explore transformation & transgression, ritual practice as a tool to queer space & lineage, and the use of mythology to connect, obscure, and reveal. In addition to an evolving, interdisciplinary solo practice, she collaborates with artists of diverse disciplines, including The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Senga Nengudi, Du Yun, Tomeka Reid, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Degenerate Art Ensemble. She has performed alongside Roscoe Mitchell, Mary Halvorson, Moor Mother, Nicole Mitchell, Shahzad Ismaily, and others. She is a Guggenheim Fellow, Creative Capital Awardee, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Robert Rauschenberg Awardee, Arts Fellow at Princeton University, Civitella Ranieri Fellow, Bessie Award Winner, and United States Artists Fellow.

    yuniya.net @yuniya_xx