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Established in 2006, Machines with Magnets hosts experimental music performances, sound and art exhibitions and installations, performance art, film and video screenings, cultural and community events, private events, and fundraisers. Past performances include The Body, Dan Deacon, Mirah, Etran de l'Aïr, Braveyoung, Lydia Lunch, Lightning Bolt, Brown Bird, Container, and Mdou Moctar.
Upcoming Events + Tickets
All ages unless otherwise noted, 21+ with valid ID to drink
Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board Opening Reception
Thursday, April 30, 2026
6:00 pm
to
9:00 pm
“Light as a Feather ,Stiff as a Board” asks whether you are the invisible onlooker or an active participant. Eli Kaufman and Michael Gunn harness painting’s voyeuristic nature to complicate interpersonal relationships. The paintings exist at a threshold where our internal world is acted upon, through collaboration and intimacy. Tangled foliage, Twisting cables, A cast shadow—Reach, hold, repair, tend. How do we balance relying on one another while channeling the power of that which goes unseen? This exhibition shares its title with a game played by children at slumber parties. A levitation trick that evokes the unknown, a tension with the truth of its physics.The events that unfold are recalled, heightened and eventually brought back down to earth. The disillusion of our accounts is a natural conclusion. Through melodramatic lighting and intangible ghostly presence, tension between physicality and spirituality charges moments with desire—an attempt towards harmony.
Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board Opening Reception
Special Event
Thursday, April 30, 2026
6:00 pm
9:00 pm
“Light as a Feather ,Stiff as a Board” asks whether you are the invisible onlooker or an active participant. Eli Kaufman and Michael Gunn harness painting’s voyeuristic nature to complicate interpersonal relationships. The paintings exist at a threshold where our internal world is acted upon, through collaboration and intimacy. Tangled foliage, Twisting cables, A cast shadow—Reach, hold, repair, tend. How do we balance relying on one another while channeling the power of that which goes unseen? This exhibition shares its title with a game played by children at slumber parties. A levitation trick that evokes the unknown, a tension with the truth of its physics.The events that unfold are recalled, heightened and eventually brought back down to earth. The disillusion of our accounts is a natural conclusion. Through melodramatic lighting and intangible ghostly presence, tension between physicality and spirituality charges moments with desire—an attempt towards harmony.
Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board Closing Reception
Thursday, June 25, 2026
6:00 pm
to
9:00 pm
“Light as a Feather ,Stiff as a Board” asks whether you are the invisible onlooker or an active participant. Eli Kaufman and Michael Gunn harness painting’s voyeuristic nature to complicate interpersonal relationships. The paintings exist at a threshold where our internal world is acted upon, through collaboration and intimacy. Tangled foliage, Twisting cables, A cast shadow—Reach, hold, repair, tend. How do we balance relying on one another while channeling the power of that which goes unseen? This exhibition shares its title with a game played by children at slumber parties. A levitation trick that evokes the unknown, a tension with the truth of its physics.The events that unfold are recalled, heightened and eventually brought back down to earth. The disillusion of our accounts is a natural conclusion. Through melodramatic lighting and intangible ghostly presence, tension between physicality and spirituality charges moments with desire—an attempt towards harmony.
Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board Closing Reception
Special Event
Thursday, June 25, 2026
6:00 pm
9:00 pm
“Light as a Feather ,Stiff as a Board” asks whether you are the invisible onlooker or an active participant. Eli Kaufman and Michael Gunn harness painting’s voyeuristic nature to complicate interpersonal relationships. The paintings exist at a threshold where our internal world is acted upon, through collaboration and intimacy. Tangled foliage, Twisting cables, A cast shadow—Reach, hold, repair, tend. How do we balance relying on one another while channeling the power of that which goes unseen? This exhibition shares its title with a game played by children at slumber parties. A levitation trick that evokes the unknown, a tension with the truth of its physics.The events that unfold are recalled, heightened and eventually brought back down to earth. The disillusion of our accounts is a natural conclusion. Through melodramatic lighting and intangible ghostly presence, tension between physicality and spirituality charges moments with desire—an attempt towards harmony.
Jungle labelmate GOSH PITH comes to Machines with Magnets with tour bud Illsnafu and local crooners Favourite and JJAAZZ. GOSH PITH (B3SCI Recs, Detroit). ::Gold Chain Tour::
Future R'n'B / Cosmic Trap duo bringing heat from motor city. With locals JJAAZZ
mems of Math the Band, The Kolour Kult, & Favourite.
1/4 Volume Noise Lounge hosted by
ANIMAL HOSPITAL. Animal Hospital is a project created by Kevin Emil Micka :: A live performance of Animal Hospital consists of Kevin alone and is based on the idea of building a piece of music up from scratch into a completely fleshed out arrangement often containing enough parts to employ many musicians. The music often references many familiar aspects of contemporary rock and pop music but is open to venture out into much more experimental territory. You might remember his work directing Animal Hospital Ensemble performances - like the 30-Guitar-Strong performance under the bridge for the first DOT AIR.
Okay, so contrary to printed posters and calendars, Dave Public isn't playing this noise lounge. We wish him the best on his trip to a memorial in NJ and look forward to his RETURN. In his stead we've got another act with the initials "DP." 6-9pm | NOISE LOUNGE | 1/4 Volume | FREE | not a show, come play checkers and mind games | Gallery Hours DIAL PAINTERS (Steven W. Greco and Marcel McVay) will rip three hours of lounge noise, recalling the tragedy of the Radium Girls aka Watch Dial Painters who painted ever-glowing Radium paint on the numbers of watch dials in and around 1917. Pointing their brushes with quick lashes of their tongues and nimble lips, these teenage wage workers rapidly poisoned themselves - their buried bodies still cranking gieger counter clicks to this day. Also apparent will be a Tralfamadorian sense of timelessness, time warping and the simultaneous experience of birth, death and the passion inherent between them.
1/4 NOISE LOUNGE! 6-9pm and free!!
It's VALENTINES DAY!
Come and hang, talk, play cool games, kiss in public. This is not a show, so feel free to take a seat and have some fun with your friends.
This guy is nuts. Utterly freaking nuts. With both hands on both joysticks. Audio / Visual experimentation abound... expect serious flittering visual stimulation behind an assembly of sensuous sound. Matthew Underwood everybody, aight?
Touring from Chicago -Champagne Mirrors:
Alex Barnett - drum machine, synthesizer, tapes, vocal,
c30 on the Scrapes label. Touring from NYC- P.P.G.
Rose E. Kross + 51717 // Gynoid Exotica
(members of further reductions, 51717). With local support:
Apathy and Steel (Mark Cetilia),
Drekalo (Kristin Hayter),
Thorn (Tay la), and V Special Guest:
Shawn O'Sullivan (DJ sets between acts).
The SECOND of the revived edition 1/4 Vol. Noise Lounge.
A true class act, HOUSEBOY's Rebecca Mitchell (House Red, Whore Paint) and Dylan Going fashionably bring SWANK and ELEGANCE to the room while you sip ultra cool martinis and slowly fill your cheeks with sexy olives. We will be hosting GALLERY HOURS during the noise lounge, so you can check out the real artwork in there.
THEY'VE GONE ELECTRIC. THE NEW SHIT. That's right, The Sugar Honey Iced Tea returns to us in a new, electrified form. Playing along are our swamp-yank rock heroes The Quahogs and Convergence (Florence+James Falzone duo!) A truly magnificent event.
!!¡¡!¡¡¡¡!¡ TIGUE !¡¡!¡¡¡!!¡!¡¡¡ EXPERIMENTAL POWERHOUSE PERCUSSION TRIO TIGUE, FROM BROOKLYN, READY TO MASSAGE YOUR MIND. THEIR NEW ALBUM, PEAKS, DEBUTED NOV 13 ON NEW AMSTERDAM RECORDS. CHECK OUT THEIR SINGLE "MOUTH" FEATURING Ira Kaplan and James McNew OF Yo La Tengo. The "bubbling and hovering" track is featured on stereogum. With local spectacles JPA Falzone + Martim Galvão & Todd Anderson
https://martimgalvao.wordpress.com/ 8pm, $8
Announcing the 80th consecutive PechaKucha Providence (er... the Greater Providence area)! This month we return to Machines With Magnets, the cool performance space/recording studio/art gallery in downtown Pawtucket. During this month of giving thanks and eating too much, we will be doing a special canned goods drive for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Please bring a canned good or other nonperishable food item to donate. In keeping with that spirit, our theme will be "canned." Presenters should feel free to interpret the theme literally, loosely, or not at all. If you haven't heard of this global yet unpronounceable phenomenon, PechaKucha is a monthly format for sharing ideas in which presenters are allotted 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide. Simply put: it's 6 minutes and 40 seconds of show and tell for grown-ups. It began in Tokyo in 2003, has since spread to over 780 cities worldwide, and first landed in Providence in March of 2009.
Wash yourself away in the November surf. We're turning the heat up for this one, so don your suits and shades. Coke Weed:
Uncontrolled substances swelling out of Bar Harbor, ME. Pixels:
Providence home-schooled garage rock. String Builder:
The ever-resonant and uplifting Thibodeau Brothers.
