by: Aniruddh Nambudiri

It was the usual scene between sets at a local music show. Loud conversations about how bad the week was, merch tables filled with weird designs and the scramble to finish a cigarette the moment you hear the first note of the next set. However, imagine if the setting for this scene was not a murky basement nor a bar but an art studio on the outskirts of town.

On June 28, 2025, Ava Albelo, a Madison based visual artist and recent UW-Madison graduate, organized ‘Cog in the Machine’ at Next Wave Studios which marked a major collaboration between Madison’s visual art and music scene. Each music act was paired up with an artist after which the artists made pieces on the band’s music and the musicians made songs related to the art on the walls.

The idea for the show has been in the works for over eight months. “The concept of the show came from look at early to mid-20^th century collaboration in places like the Bauhaus school” said Albelo. “Everyone just had their hands in each other’s pots, and I thought it could be interesting to sort of combine the experiences that I’ve had at the radio station whilst immersing myself in the art world.”

Albelo saw an opportunity to realize this when the University of Wisconsin-Madison art department held a grant writing contest in November which she ended up winning. The money was used to set the show up. Albelo also started talking to bands and venues around this time.

She had a class with Stanley Brueske, another recent graduate and drummer for local bands Hush Now Sweet Halo and Eat Turf, who had the show pitched to him two months ago. “She presented it as an idea of ‘You’re going to work with an artist, I’m going to pair up artists with bands, kind of like matchmaker’ and I thought that was really cool” Brueske said. Leo Abe Randall, bass player for Madison band In Ropes, was then pitched the show along with the other bands on the card.

The preparation for the show was different, especially on the musical side. “I think for something like this, whereas with a house show, you play stuff that is fast and punky, there’s a lot more of a focus on the order of the songs. I think it’s really similar to having a plot” said Randall. “I think at house shows you get people to move. This is about performing and entertaining.”

The preparation for this show also answered some of the major questions of why shows like this have not happened as often. One reason is that the scene in Madison revolves a lot around the University and the art department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is not big in comparison to the music scene.

“I think we just have a really tiny art department here at UW” said Albelo. “We’ve got such a great music culture but the group of artists coming out of here, they’re a very teensy, tiny group.”

Albelo also talked about the lack of visibility of UW’s artists in the scene as well. “Our art program’s not very rigorous; it doesn’t kind of create the need in students to go out and seek these opportunities on their own” said Albelo. “They’re just not visible in this space, even though there’s so much cool art going on here.”

On the musician side, there is a belief that shows like this have not happened due to the reputation of a house show and the party culture that surrounds it.

“Shows are naturally like, let’s get in the dirt and Mosh in the basement and get rowdy and listen to this loud music. It produces like a physical response. And art also produces a physical response in us but when you go to like a gallery, it’s not so much of like a rowdy kind of thing” said Brueske. “It’s more of a laid-back kind of experience and it’s a very individual experience going and looking at art versus music.”

“You either have to have music that has more weight or get people to actually come out and go downstairs to the basement over their urge to drink and party and that’s a very high boundary and bar to compete with, because it’s a Friday or Saturday night” said Randall. “You’re in a house already, you feel comfortable. There’s a lot of things that don’t make you want to go down there.”

The show ended up with the turnout expected at a usual house show in the Madison summer. The combination of a classic reception at a gallery along with the crowd and culture of a show in venues like the Nottingham co-op. Musicians were pointing towards the paintings made about their music and through collaboration with the artists. The night also ended with a classic move for a gallery, someone handing a bouquet of flowers to the person who organized the whole event. The event generated interest in another show of this type, but no future has been laid out yet.

“I’m hoping that younger people, can come to this show and come up and be interested in the artwork and ask questions and enjoy the music and recognize that relationship and allow it to continue locally and within the student body” said Albelo. “I think that there’s so much potential for growth there.”