AUDIUM V (1969)
Wonder what experimental San Francisco sounded like in the late 60s? Audium V: Rewind features field recordings and electronic sounds through 176 speakers that will take audiences back to 1969. Find yourself inside an old muscle-car, feel a Pan-American flight fly right through you, and meditate in a cacophony of fog horns. One can only imagine what audiences at that time (54 years ago!) must have thought.
Audium V was composed by Stan Shaff on tape in the late 60s. It premiered in 1969 at Audium’s first home, an old lodge hall in San Francisco’s Richmond District. Stan and Doug McEachern (Audium’s co-founder and original system designer) saw the original theater's 80 speakers as a canvas on which to stretch and shape “sound sculptures.” They were just coming into what would become a defining philosophy: treating sound and space itself as a composable entity.
Fast forward 50 years, much has changed technology-wise, but Audium’s original aesthetic remains intact. Thanks to countless volunteer hours, the original Audium V tapes were digitized in-house as part of its ongoing archival program. Now, following in his dad’s footsteps, David Shaff has reworked his father’s sounds for Audium’s current system and will perform each night.
“My goal in reworking my Dad's piece for Audium’s current sound environment was not to faithfully recreate the piece as it was (Impossible! Not all the tapes were labeled!) but to adapt the work for our modern system. The tape sounds remain the same, but the contemporary space and context is vastly different, making the piece just as relevant now as it was back then.” — David Shaff (composer & son of Stan Shaff)
Marking the revival of Audium V, interdisciplinary artist Ava Koohbor has created an organic atmosphere in Audium’s lobby through sculptural speakers made of metals and raw materials exploring the physicality of sound. The installation incorporates the earth’s natural resources used in ritualistic ceremonies, to accompany Audium’s own ritual of listening. These sonic sculptures welcome the audience as a prelude to a deep immersive experience in the theater of sound.
Audium is the only theater of its kind in the world, pioneering the exploration of space in music for over 50 years. Listeners are bathed in sound which is moved about the space in real-time. "Sound sculptures" are performed in the darkness of the 49-seat theater.
Audium V: REWIND premieres June 15th, 2023, and will play every weekend through July 22nd. Shows are every Thursday, Friday & Saturday; doors are at 7:00pm and the show begins promptly at 7:30pm.
Tickets on sale now. Admission is $20 student, $30 general. Limited number of pay-what-you-can tickets are also available.
Cost: $30