Artists in Residence
Salar Ansari
Born and raised in Tehran, Salar Ansari is a sound engineer, producer, composer, and DJ. Salar comes from the rich ancient traditions of dance and music of Iran that help him to cope with everyday life. Fascinated and engaged with technology from a young age and a studio cat, Salar is a lover of sound and a seeker of truth. His commitment to the music and sound culture brought him to Detroit in 2015 where he lives, makes music, takes photographs, and grows.
Pathe Jassi
Jazz musician Pathe Jassi is one of Detroit's best-kept secrets. Before moving to the United States, Jassi spent half of his career playing and recording alongside legendary West African singers Youssou N'Dour of Senegal and Cheikh Lo of Burkina Faso. He's known among jazz musicians for his rare ability to combine hard bebop with a polyrhythmic African sound — a skill he says he learned from Detroit jazz legend Sam Sanders, who took him under his wing in Senegal.
Leafar
Rafael Statin aka Leafar is one of those rarest of multi-instrumentalist who can combine great passion, intellectual discipline, and a spiritual fire that is evocative of great artistic creativity. He has so far established himself as a remarkable composer and musician not defined by any one particular genre or style. Appearing as Leafar, a pseudonym created by Rafael in order to further free his music and himself from trap establishments of being boxed in only as a saxophonist jazz musician. As Leafar he is unconstrained to completely utilize his experimental mind & soul.
Travis Pittman
Travis Pittman is a producer and recording engineer, born in Detroit, Michigan and working between Detroit and New York. Also known as 4amjuno, he is influenced by dark, ambient and melodic sounds that embody night life. Working with and mixing genres from pop and house, to r&b, hip hop and more inspire him to make music for any moment. His need for creative expression has pushed him towards several mediums including music, sculpting, photography and some graphic design.
Luis Resto
Luis Resto is a Oscar and Grammy award-winning musician and songwriter with a recording resume that ranges from Patti Smith and Iggy Pop to chart-topping hip hop artists such as Jay Z, B.o.B. and 50 Cent, and Eminem. A seminal member of the groundbreaking Was (Not Was), Resto as lent his talents to a wildly diverse collection artists including Stevie Nicks, Mel Torme, Anita Baker and the legendary Highwaymen.
Ava Ansari
Ava is a transmedia artist, curator, educator, and community organizer. Since 2010, Ava has been working with her body, language, telepresence and network technologies, and distant bodies to choreograph transnational and transactional celebratory spaces and design tactical media that enable body-conscious modes of arts and policy making. She holds an MA in Arts and Public Policy from The New York University Tisch School of the Arts and a BA in Media Studies from Allameh Tabataba’i University School of Communication in Tehran. She has worked in numerous contemporary art curatorial and educational roles in the US and Southwest Asia since 2007.