Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC)

08/27/2026

Think about the last time you went to recess: it was a genuine break in the middle of the day. Not a race to eat what you could before returning to work, not an opportunity to do errands, or catch up on sleep—you used to put aside the work and play. 

EMPAC is bringing back recess on September 2nd and then each month during the semester. Stop into Evelyn’s Cafe on the 5th floor any time from 12-2pm to forget about work for a while, grab some lunch, chat with friends, and enjoy music from energetic bands who are sure to get you moving in a variety of ways. 

Sing, dance, lie back, let loose, and enjoy RECESS like you used to.

More info at the link in our bio!

08/26/2026

Single tickets now on-sale for all TOPOS events! You can purchase individual tickets for any of the festival programs for $20 each. RPI student tickets are only $5! Festival passes are still available for $50. Get your tickets and passes today!

TOPOS returns as a space for gathering, inquiry, and discovery. Across four days of performances, live podcasts, film screenings, and conversation, the festival creates occasions for deepened listening and critical encounters: music as a means of articulating that which resists articulation.

Featuring Vijay Iyer, Wadada Leo Smith, Miho Hatori, Edward George, Fred Moten, Paul Abbott, Rock City Falls Trio, Sun Dogs, and The Silent Light.

08/06/2026

What do we carry with us after an image or a sound disappears?

Moving image, light, architecture, and sound converge to create an experience that unfolds in real space and in your body. P. Staff’s (P. Staff) Terminal Lucidity can’t be captured in a photograph or a video clip. Come to EMPAC to experience it in person!

📍 EMPAC, Troy, NY
📅 Through August 20
🕙 Open Monday–Friday, 10 AM–4:30 PM
🎟 Free admission
⚠️ This installation contains strobe effects.
Learn more via the link in bio

07/22/2026

Following its acclaimed presentation at the Venice Biennale, P. Staff’s (P. Staff) Terminal Lucidity makes its U.S. debut at EMPAC this summer.

Through an algorithmically randomized constellation of moving image, light, and sound, no two encounters unfold the same way. Inspired by afterimages, sonic echoes, and the phenomenon of terminal lucidity—a fleeting resurgence of vitality at the threshold of death—the work extends beyond the screen, shimmering behind our eyelids and resonating in our bodies.

Free admission. ⚠️ Contains strobe effects.

07/17/2026

What becomes possible when listening is understood not as observation, but as reciprocity?

Sound is our first sense. Before birth we encounter the world through vibration, developing an embodied understanding of relation long before language. Vibrations of sound move through air, water, skin, and bone, crossing boundaries with ease. Sound is both immaterial and deeply physical: an event continually unfolding between bodies and environments.

Composed of field recordings and voice altered through playback, as well as synthesis, “Untitling” invites audiences into an evolving sonic environment where sound becomes a way of sensing ecological interdependence, memory, and place beyond the limits of language. Fragments of place emerge, dissolve, and return, inviting listeners to inhabit duration rather than resolution. In these shifting resonances, “Untitling” imagines sound and acoustic ecology not as representation, but as an active participant in shaping right relations between bodies, technologies, and the living world.

📅 July 20 to August 21, 2026 / Open Monday to Friday, 10AM to 4:30PM
📍 EMPAC

07/17/2026

EMPAC team field trip to the oldest dance festival in the country Jacob's Pillow this week! With a stop at the Ted Shawn Theatre and the archives! ☀️

06/22/2026

MIHO HATORI ハトリミホ just finished her most recent EMPAC residency, preparing for the premiere of “Paris Syndrome” as part of the TOPOS Music Festival, September 2-5! She’ll be joined by musicians Dan Peck and Michiko Ogawa (MICHIKO O) in a not-to-be-missed multimedia performance! Tickets and more info at the link in bio ✨

06/09/2026

06/05/2026

Thanks to everyone who came out to the EMPAC Pride Kickoff Party! Big thanks to the RPI LGBT+ Task Force () for bringing the tie-dye station, and mad shoutout to Paintbrush Charlie for the tunes! Happy Pride! 🌈