Sonia Flores is one of Houston’s most beloved avant-garde improvisational musicians, having crafted bizarre and delightful events behind her imposing double bass for 17 years. Her latest creation is a combination of macrame and music set in the far reaches of outer space with a little help from the Orange Show’s newly acquired warehouse.

“Ascendants from the Future” will involve a series of concerts in the warehouse over the course of June, culminating with a performance by Flores’ band Aurum Son. She’s invited some of Houston’s best improvisational talents, including Dave Dove, Ak’chamel, and Concrete Melange to interpret her creation.

These shows will take place within a series of macrame panels, some as long as 10 feet, that Flores has woven from bits of sticks found on her hikes and tulle to give it a celestial vibe. She drew visual inspiration from pictures of nebulas, giant clouds of dust and gas in space that form striking, chaotic shapes.

“People hear macrame and think ivory, taupes, and grays,” says Flores, who has been working in the art form for six years after teaching herself from old books. “I wanted to break and create something new, a new style. I want morbid colors and designs. I am trying to break away from the traditional macrame patterns and ideas of symmetry. I am kind of pushing macrame in a different direction. I’m not sticking to a specific form.”

Flores says she is trying to birth “indigenous futurism,” a new art form heavily inspired by Afro-futurism artists such as Sun Ra. During the pandemic, Flores had to care for her mother Sylvia Hernandez Flores, who was dying of cancer. Sonia knew that her mother had Indigenous ancestry, but her mother refused to talk about that aspect of her life.

“My mother didn’t migrate,” says Flores. “Her family had been in Texas for generations. She spoke another language that she never taught us. I don’t know my own past. That’s why I wanted to put my musicians in a celestial portal. So much of what I put in music is about outer space, being out of place but still belonging. You lose your way when you don’t know your history. I do not know mine, but I am here in the future.”

For the music, Flores has crafted three improvisational pieces 10 to 15 minutes long. The first is dedicated to her mother. The second is called “Father, What is My Song?” that is based around a single riff that Flores insists the various musicians learn by ear rather than notation.

“Everyone has their own cultural music, but when you’re missing your history, what is your song?” she says. “I am asking the universe.”

The last piece, “Square Knot, Half Knot” encourages the musicians to follow the patterns in the macrame pieces themselves to create a line. Her notations and instructions ask them to interpret what a knot sounds like in musical form.

“The beauty of improvisation scores is that there are no rules,” says Flores. “How does a dot sound? How does an orb sound?”

Jef Rouner is a Houston-based writer.