Fuse Fest 2026: May 2026 Frequency Fridays

Kicking off a month of Fuse Fest 2026 on the evening of Friday, May 1st, we are thrilled and delighted to feature hybrid media artist Paul Catanese (NYC), new media artist/didgeridoo player John Hardin (CA), a audio-reactive multimedia performance bynew media artist CG Ryan (CMH), and improvisational quintet SHPRD (CMH). Doors 7:30pm, show begins at 8:00pm sharp. $10.00 prepaid, $15 at the door. Supporters of our 2025-2026 season include the Greater Columbus Arts Council, the Ohio Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Columbus Foundation. About the artists: Paul Catanese is a Hybrid Media Artist who blurs the lines between the fine, performing, and media arts through a wide array of artworks including installations, performances, videos, experimental opera, projections, net.art, virtual reality, electronic artists books, and print media. Catanese has exhibited at numerous institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Chicago Cultural Center, New Museum of Contemporary Art, SFMOMA Artist’s Gallery, La Villette, China Academy of Art, Frankston Art Center, Carriageworks, Disjecta, Terrain Biennial, Stuttgart Filmwinter, FILE, New Forms Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, and the International Symposium on Electronic Art. He has been awarded residencies at the Institute for Electronic Art at Alfred University, Kala Art Institute, SPACES, Signal Culture, PLAYA, Goldwell Open Air Museum, and universities throughout the United States and abroad; commissions from Rhizome and Turbulence; and grants from the City of Chicago, Illinois Arts Council, and New York Foundation for the Arts. An Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship (2014) provided support for Visible From Space, an exhibition seen by over 35,000 visitors at the Chicago Cultural Center, described in Furtherfield by Patrick Lichty as a hybrid drawing dirigible telepresence opera. Catanese was named the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Artist-in-Residence at Colgate University (2018-19) which culminated in an ensemble production of his multi-modal opera: Century of Progress / Sleep at the Ho-Tung Visualization Lab Planetarium and the publication of a studio recording on LP record. John Hardin plays didgeridoo and theremin simultaneously through a network of digital effects, and controls a bank of audio samples he can trigger at will. These samples include field recordings, excerpts of vintage media, and candid interviews. With these elements, Hardin sculpts a unique sound that transcends time as it flows organically through it, like the endless dance of earth and water on a living planet shaped by unseen forces. C.G. RYAN is a media artist and scenic designer who creates playful, surreal imagery that she mixes in real time with live music to create vistas of inner and outer space, layering tangibility with the imaginary. She holds an MFA in Visual Arts: New Media from CCAD, and collaborates with musicians and directors to create transportive, immersive experiences for audiences at live events and in theatrical productions. The Columbus-based SHPRD quintet features LA Jenkins on guitar, Etiyen Esheff on synth, Chris Weldon on a variety of instruments, Bryan Stewart on bass and electronics, and Martin Rippel on trumpet and electronics.