In this episode we talk to Bonnie Han Jones, a Korean-American improvising musician, poet, and educator working primarily with electronic sound and text. Her work explores noise, sonic identity, listening, and sound as knowledge.

We talked to Bonnie in spring 2025 when she was finishing up her PhD at Brown University. She has since moved to Chicago where she is now Assistant Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Art & Technology/Sound Practices Department. 

In our conversation, we discuss Bonnie’s experiences as a Korean adoptee, her formative trip to Korea as a Fulbright Scholar, her relationship to sound and language as mediums of self-abstraction, and the generative (and often collaborative) art practices that can emerge from the space in-between.

Guest Bio:

Bonnie Han Jones is a Korean-American improvising musician, poet, and performer working with electronic sound and text. She performs solo and in numerous collaborative music, film, and visual art projects. Bonnie was a founding member of the Transmodern Festival and CHELA Gallery and is currently a member of the High Zero Festival collective. In 2010, along with Suzanne Thorpe she co-founded TECHNE, an organization that develops anti-racist, feminist workshops that center on technology-focused art making, improvisation, and community collaboration. She has received commissions from the London ICA and Walters Art Museum and has presented her work extensively at institutions in the US, Mexico, Europe and Asia. Bonnie was a 2018 recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award. Born in South Korea she was raised on a dairy farm in New Jersey, and currently resides in Chicago, IL.

Show Notes:

Listen to/buy Bonnie’s music at Catalytic Sound and Bandcamp

Upcoming Shows in Chicago, IL:

• October 18, 2025 @ 8:00PM | Lou Mallozi Record Release Concert with guests Hal Rammel, Bonnie Han Jones, Michael Zerang at Constellation

• October 24, 2025 at 2 PM | lisa cameron / alex cunningham / mark shippy + bonnie han jones at Torn Light Records
• December 5-6, 2025 | Catalytic Sound Festival at Hungry Brain

Works by Bonnie we reference:

• do you wanna know something about something?– conversations on Korean-ness, a book by Bonnie Han Jones and Ryoko Akama

• we’ve all we’ve done: sounding a korean adoptee archive, a multichannel sound installation
• Courtyards: Pansori Loop, a multidisciplinary work by Bonnie Han Jones and Mary Kim Arnold

Other references:

• Welcome House adoption program founded by Pearl S. Buck
• Friendster, an early social networking site
• Books by Cathy Park Hong: Minor Feelings and Dance Dance Revolution
• More info about Korean name chop stamps
• Korean pansori music and West African griot singers
• Homi K. Bhabha and his writing on hybridity

Credits:

• Edited by Alie Kilts and mastered by Cedric Wilson.
• Theme music by The Necklace, a project by Taylor Shields and Morgan Võ.

Sound Credits:

• Birds in hotel courtyard by arnaud coutancier — https://freesound.org/s/449022/ — License: Attribution NonCommercial 3.0
• cooking_02.wav by aesqe — https://freesound.org/s/140453/ — License: Attribution 4.0
• Restaurant outside by the river atmosphere with people talking by Garuda1982 — https://freesound.org/s/735593/ — License: Attribution 4.0
• Dog claws on wooden flooring .wav by jacko4526 — https://freesound.org/s/656013/ — License: Attribution 4.0
• Making Dinner in Thailand by Veridiansunrise — https://freesound.org/s/350718/ — License: Attribution 4.0
• 20090425.elderly.wav by dobroide — https://freesound.org/s/71864/ — License: Attribution 4.0
• August night on Countryside – Zlatibor, Serbia by Tomlija — https://freesound.org/s/198404/ — License: Attribution 3.0