Homeroom is proud to present the newest iteration of Blank Box on Fri May 15 at Experimental Station in Chicago, IL, featuring "Ritual" a new work for multimedia ensemble by Julian Otis.
Blank Box is an ongoing program by Homeroom to commission original multimedia work that is collaborative and performative, encouraging artists of multiple platforms and media to think, work, and create using structured improvisation.
Blank Box: Ritual
Friday, May 15, 2026
8pm doors, 8:30pm performance
$20-50 suggested donation
Experimental Station, 6100 S Blackstone Ave, Chicago, IL 60637
If you're reading this you are a part of Ritual. Meditate on the Elements of Life. Earth. Water. Fire. Mineral. We take you on a Journey of Remembering through the lens of Black Inspirational Music as we explore our somatic map of care, singing through the healing elements while creating the conditions to grow new life. Walk away changed and Ready to Grow.
Your Ritual Guides are:
Julian Otis
Naydja Bruton
Paige Brown
Gabriel Lochard
Scott Rubin
Kezia
Get Tickets
About The Artist:
Julian Terrell Otis is a vocalist dedicated to the advancement of Black music in America, spanning genres from creative music and jazz, to contemporary classical. His work explores the limitless possibilities of his instrument’s expressive capacity through song, improvisation, and theater. Known for bringing fresh perspective, nuance, and “high drama” to the contemporary music world, the integration of performance “live art” elements is of particular interest to him. Otis’s experiences have led him to create the male soloist role in George E. Lewis’ chamber opera, Afterword, on both domestic and international stages. In exploring the life and work of Julius Eastman, Otis has performed his solo work, Prelude for the Holy Presence of Joan of Arc. He revived Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King at the inaugural Bang on a Can All Star’s Loud Weekend, and is devising works focusing on improvisation, electronics, and movement. All the Pretty Flowers is his first recording project of improvised music and poetry. Committed to community empowerment, he led an improvised jam for South Side Chicago communities called Self Care = Resistance! And curates the AfriClassical Futures series at Elastic Arts in Chicago’s Logan Square/Avondale neighborhood.
