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
It Happened One Night, Godseyes, New Forms, Paper Heaven + Wellness
Drawing from Huabi, a tale in the Chinese literary classic Liaozhai Zhiyi, Self-Haunted explores the shifting boundaries between image, desire, and surveillance. In the story a man is drawn into a celestial paradise painted on a wall. What first unfolds as a realm of desire slowly darkens into fear, as an armored official appears in search of an intruder. The painted world shifts with the movements of the mind, where desire and dread give shape to what seems real. Self-Haunted revisits the painted wall as both an image and a boundary, inviting entry while holding the power to expel. Across the exhibition, images beckon, linger, and quietly return our gaze. As enchantment gives way to scrutiny, the worlds we conjure begin to haunt us, shaping how we see and are seen.
Drawing from Huabi, a tale in the Chinese literary classic Liaozhai Zhiyi, Self-Haunted explores the shifting boundaries between image, desire, and surveillance. In the story a man is drawn into a celestial paradise painted on a wall. What first unfolds as a realm of desire slowly darkens into fear, as an armored official appears in search of an intruder. The painted world shifts with the movements of the mind, where desire and dread give shape to what seems real. Self-Haunted revisits the painted wall as both an image and a boundary, inviting entry while holding the power to expel. Across the exhibition, images beckon, linger, and quietly return our gaze. As enchantment gives way to scrutiny, the worlds we conjure begin to haunt us, shaping how we see and are seen.
'AN OTHER WORLD' will be manipulated during a live performance that combines shadows, song, movement and sound. 'An Other World' is an immersive, interactive installation by Providence-based artist Erik Ruin. Inspired by medieval visions of the afterlife, science-fiction landscapes and more modern/personal struggles with scarcity and depression, this show combines intricate paper-cut scrolls, hanging banners and overhead projections. These visions will be "activated" by the viewer's own shadow and live performances at the opening and closing events. Erik Ruin is a Providence-based printmaker, shadow-puppeteer, founding member of the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, and co-creator of the recent book Paths Toward Utopia: Graphic Explorations of Everyday Anarchism (w/ Cindy Milstein, PM Press, 2012).
