“I was trained with Western notation, and I was told that you’re supposed to understand that language in order to make music. And of course, that’s not true. Most musicians in the world do not read Western music notation.”–Raven Chacon
The project for Kunstverein Hannover by Raven Chacon, the first Native American artist to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2022, brings together a selection of some of his most significant sculptural works, films, and installations, alongside two live performances developed specifically for the Kunstverein.
Chacon’s artistic practice unfolds between sound, video, performance, sculpture, and notation and is informed—among other influences—by the values and musical traditions of the Diné (Navajo). His practice addresses environmental issues as well as Indigenous identity, sovereignty, and historical narratives.
The exhibition includes, among other works, the For Zitkála-Šá scores (2017–2020); the installation and composition …the sky ladder (2024), developed in collaboration with Sámi people; the sound work Aviary (2024), recently presented at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York; and the piece Report (2001/2015), a composition in which handguns become musical instruments.
Raven Chacon (born 1977, Fort Defiance, Arizona, Navajo Nation) is a composer as well as a performance and installation artist. From 2009 to 2018, he was a member of the artist collective Postcommodity, with whom he realized, among other projects, Repellent Fence (2015), a temporary monument consisting of 26 tethered balloons spanning the U.S.–Mexico border near Agua Prieta (Sonora) and Douglas (Arizona).
Chacon has released over eighty compositions on various international labels. In 2022, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his work Voiceless Mass. His opera Sweet Land (2020), co-composed with Du Yun, was named Opera of the Year 2021 by the Music Critics Association of North America.
With Conductus, Kunstverein Hannover presents Raven Chacon’s first solo exhibition in German-speaking countries.
Raven Chacon: Conductus
Jul 31 – Aug 10, 2025
Kunstverein Hannover
Hannover, Germany
