Blue Hour: An Autumn Tea & Sound Ritual

An intimate modern ritual of oolong tea, ambient sound, and the deepening of autumn. Blue Hour marks the beginning of Ivy Hermit’s 26/27 series of seasonal tea and music pairings, exploring how tea changes with the rhythms of the seasons. Three selected oolongs, each shaped by its landscape, craft, and passage through time, will be tasted alongside a live ambient performance for flute, cymbals and electronics, by MAYSUN and Amy Jiang, as well as live visuals by Sam Hikari. The evening unfolds at Reforesters Laboratory, where sound moves through a 24 channel spatial system, creating an atmosphere that shifts with the tasting. Program 19:30 Doors & Arrival 20:00-21:00 Cold-Brew Oolong Tasting with Live Ambient Performance 21:00-22:00 Social Hour About Ivy Hermit Ivy Hermit considers time the essential ingredient in tea. Ivy reaches outward toward growth and connection, while Hermit turns inward toward stillness and reflection. Together, they embody a simple philosophy: time is the ingredient, and tea is how we choose to hold it. About the artists MAYSUN is a composer and sound artist whose work transforms physical spaces into immersive sound environments. Centered around modular systems, DIY electronics, and cyclical processing, he develops adaptable sound structures that interact with and reshape the contexts they inhabit. Blurring the lines between site-responsive installations and performance, his practice creates moments where sound, the room, and the listener become inseparable. Working with feedback circuits and spatial distribution, he creates the conditions for that participation. Amy X. Jiang is an event producer, curator, and founder of Underground Art And Design, where she produces cultural programs in NYC and Shanghai. She is leading the production of this event and performing along side MAYSUN on the flute. She has played flute since the age of nine and incorporates live processing into her sound practice, exploring the tension between ethereal tones and subterranean murmurs. She’s drawn to elemental forces of nature and how sound can make those quieter energies perceptible. Sam Hikari is a visual and interactive media artist whose practice explores the relationship between space, technology, light, music and motion picture. With over 17 years of experience in architecture and computational design, he brings a spatial and data-driven approach to creating immersive visual experiences for live performances, events, and experimental environments. His work combines real-time visual systems, projection, lighting, and digital imagery, drawing from his background in parametric modeling, data analysis, and architecture.