Qiujiang Levi Lu/卢秋江 (they/them) is a Beijing-born, NYC-based performance artist, vocalist, experimental improviser, composer, and lecturer. For their solo performance art practice, Lu designs Max/MSP-based electroacoustic feedback systems with cyborg-like body augmentations inspired by Objectophilia/animism, which include special microphones and speakers placed within bodily orifices and a custom-mapped flight joystick controller. Their resulting performances consist of choreographed, ritualistic improvisations that build on ancient Chinese drumming traditions and explore body dysmorphia, sexuality, spirituality, and mortality, linking together sound, movement, and violence in divine ceremony.
As a composer, Lu writes instructed improvisation pieces for acoustic and electronic performers and improvisers.
Lu’s commissioned works often take a meta, unorthodox approach to music technology, exploring human-machine relationships, audio-visual interactivity, mind-body connection, and the phenomenology of musical performance. Previous commissions have included Popebama, Luke Helker, and Ensemble Decipher.
Lu’s works have been performed and featured at festivals, conferences, and venues such as High Zero Festival, MATA Festival, IRCAM forum, DiMenna Center, Jazz Showcase, SEAMUS conference, Elastic Arts, Spencer Museum of Art, NIME conference, NYCEMF, Oberlin MMG, Rhizome DC, and NowNet Arts conference.
Lu currently works as a lecturer and audio engineer in the Department of Music at the University of Pennsylvania.
As a collaborative electroacoustic improviser, Lu makes up half of the Chinese-American experimental electronic act Warp Duo with fellow improviser and violinist Scott Li, which fuses deeply emotional and melodic music with maximalist sound design.