Pamela Z's Arbeitsklang / Worksound uses the rhythms of labor and the musicality of the human voice to explore the sounds of work.
Listeners will be immersed in a tapestry of sound from Berlin workspaces- from the rhythmic strike of knives on cutting boards and the mechanical whir of sewing machines, to the industrial thrum of factory floors and Gutenberg printing presses.
The piece also features recorded interviews with working people in a wide range of fields- from the arts & food to industrial factory work. Field recordings and interview fragments are layered over processed vocals and instrumentation, creating a music of voices and noises.
Pamela Z will perform her work each night, using custom MIDI controllers that allow her to manipulate sound live, in real-time. The show extends beyond the speaker space, spilling out into the lobby with projections and sounds of industrial machinery that surround the audience from the moment they enter the building.
ABOUT AUDIUM: A San Francisco original, built over 50 years ago and updated in 2020, Audium provides an experience unlike anything else in the world. Listeners are bathed in sound and music, moved around the space in real-time. These "sound sculptures" are performed in complete darkness in a 49-seat theater. Audium’s sound residency commissions four local artists each year to compose and perform immersive sound works using Audium’s one-of-a-kind 176-speaker system. This year’s artists include Pat Mesiti-Miller,
Pamela Z, Barbara Nerness, and golden lionheart collier.
Videos featuring musicians playing at this event
BREATHING is a movement from Carbon Song Cycle (a inter-media chamber work by composer/performer Pamela Z and visual artist Christina McPhee). The work was originally written for voice & electronics, bassoon, viola, cello, percussion, and tape. This is a solo version performed by the composer (with just voice, processing, and tape), recorded at a 3/13/2014 duo concert with Joan La Barbara as part of the 2014 ROOM Series. Pamela Z is using a gesture controller (designed and built by Donald Swearingen). © 2013 Last Letter Music (ASCAP)