There was a warmth to the lights that clashed with the chilly wind blowing through the door at Trumpet Blossom Cafe. A quiet but sizable audience took in the sound of sitar-electronica music played by Baltimore-based musician Ami Dang. The unique performance marked the 47th concert in the Feed Me Weird Things listening series.

Feed Me Weird Things is a series that prides itself on bringing experimental and avant-garde artists to Iowa City, with the hope that it will incite a level of empathy and deep thinking that is not normally found in other musical performances, according to Feed Me Weird Things founder and co-director Chris Wiersema.

“The music that we bring is not necessarily easy listening, it’s not something you would put on to get ready to go out, but is in of itself a unique piece of art that is rarely offered to audience members,” Wiersema said.

Each artist’ performance is paired with a visual mixtape curated specifically for them. The exhibitions are intended, in part, to be visual inspiration the artist can draw from for their music, said Vero Rose Smith, co-director of Feed Me Weird Things and associate curator of special projects at the UI Stanley Museum of Art.

The collections and performances are an exploration into the music, unspoken dialogue many artists have with each other, and emotional response that such mediums can offer to listeners and viewers, said Smith.

“Another factor that [Chris] and I agree and connected on over is the idea that art can foster empathy,” Smith said. “So in having this artistic experience communally together, in real time, is important, and that’s not something museums, traditionally, have done very well.”

The visual mixtape is curated by Smith, who listens to the artists and researches aspects of their work and life that Feed Me Weird Things would like to present.

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“It’s not always expressionistic, it sometimes has to do with the literal structure of the music, the theory behind the music,” Smith said. “I’ll listen to the music deeply, and will just open up our data base in the backend at the museum, then I just start going through a couple parameters.”

The curated visual mixtapes can be found at the UI Stanley Museum of Art for a short time, but are also presented on the website for easier and long-term public viewing.

Feed Me Weird Things has grown a substantial following in Iowa City since its creation in early 2016, Wiersema said. The most recent show nearly filled up the entire venue.

“I enjoy listening to weird music. I make some weird music,” Feed Me Weird Things concert attendee Andy Perdod said. “It’s something different from pop music, rock music, or even jazz or classical, I don’t know how to classify it really, it’s just different sounding.”

Feed Me Weird Things might not sell out clubs and large concert venues like other live music programming, but that was never the goal, Wiersema said.

“In where we [Feed Me Weird Things] may not have in size what large markets do, we do have an extremely thoughtful and participating audience,” Wiersema said.