February 4, 2026:
Mixology Festival at Roulette: The Composer’s Black Box Book Event, ft. Ted Gordon, Marcia Bassett, Keith Fullerton Whitman, and Luke Stewart
DAY 1 of Roulette’s 2026 Mixology Festival features an evening of conversation and performance around Ted Gordon’s recent book, The Composer’s Black Box (University of California Press, 2025), which examines how human musicians and their electronic musical instruments negotiate agency, creativity, and selfhood through cybernetic pathways of control. Through five historical case studies—chapters on early cybernetic electronic systems developed by Morton Subotnick, Donald Buchla, Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Lucier, and Sun Ra—Gordon’s book develops a concept of “ex-composition” that accounts for experiences of playing with instruments that play themselves, and the consequences those experiences hold for understanding the musical self in an increasingly informational world.
After a panel discussion and Q&A, Gordon will be joined by frequent collaborator Marcia Bassett (electronics), as well as Keith Fullerton Whitman (electronics), and Luke Stewart (bass) for improvised performances that build on the conversation in solo and duo formations.
Ted Gordon author, Buchla Music Easel
Marcia Bassett panelist, Buchla Music Easel
Keith Fullerton Whitman panelist, electronics
Luke Stewart panelist, bass