Ven Voisey has created a site-specific composition that explores his relationship to the space within Audium. He is drawn to how space is occupied--and the sounds that inhabit, infiltrate, and swell.
About his artmaking process, Voisey says:
"I spend a lot of time listening to my surroundings. It's an intentional effort, something I try to make room for; a way of bringing myself to the present. I often end up humming along to the sounds, or mimicing what I hear -- a tool for understanding my presence within space... I follow hints of what's there already and build upon that, layer upon, mutate it, obscure it, build choirs out of it, then bring attention back."
Through a methodology of listening, Voisey works with field recordings from Audium's building and surrounding neighborhood as a starting place. Audiences will hear creaking chairs, the hum of a breaker box, the phasing pulse of equipment cooling fans, door hinges, water pipes, and the wave-like, sub-audible sounds of traffic passing outside.
In the lobby, an ensemble of 9-foot wooden towers topped with rotating horn speakers welcome audiences. Voisey's creations intermittently sing out with disembodied voices, in resonant harmony to some aspect of their surroundings. The resulting songs are at times alluring and transcendent, at others, discordant and haunting.
ABOUT AUDIUM: A San Francisco original, built over 50 years ago and updated in 2020, Audium provides an experience unlike anything available anywhere else in the world. Listeners are bathed in electronic sound and music, which is moved around the space in real-time. These "sound sculptures" are performed for audiences in complete darkness in the 49-seat theater. Shows at Audium extend beyond the inner sanctum. The experience begins at the entrance to the building, with a permanent sound installation at the front door, and continuing with visual-and-audio pieces in the lobby gallery, installed by selected artists in relation to the current show. Audience members then traverse a short pitch-black labyrinth, also alit with sound, to enter the space. (Glow tape arrows on the floor in darkened spaces provide guidance.)
show less
About his artmaking process, Voisey says:
"I spend a lot of time listening to my surroundings. It's an intentional effort, something I try to make room for; a way of bringing myself to the present. I often end up humming along to the sounds, or mimicing what I hear -- a tool for understanding my presence within space... I follow hints of what's there already and build upon that, layer upon, mutate it, obscure it, build choirs out of it, then bring attention back."
Through a methodology of listening, Voisey works with field recordings from Audium's building and surrounding neighborhood as a starting place. Audiences will hear creaking chairs, the hum of a breaker box, the phasing pulse of equipment cooling fans, door hinges, water pipes, and the wave-like, sub-audible sounds of traffic passing outside.
In the lobby, an ensemble of 9-foot wooden towers topped with rotating horn speakers welcome audiences. Voisey's creations intermittently sing out with disembodied voices, in resonant harmony to some aspect of their surroundings. The resulting songs are at times alluring and transcendent, at others, discordant and haunting.
ABOUT AUDIUM: A San Francisco original, built over 50 years ago and updated in 2020, Audium provides an experience unlike anything available anywhere else in the world. Listeners are bathed in electronic sound and music, which is moved around the space in real-time. These "sound sculptures" are performed for audiences in complete darkness in the 49-seat theater. Shows at Audium extend beyond the inner sanctum. The experience begins at the entrance to the building, with a permanent sound installation at the front door, and continuing with visual-and-audio pieces in the lobby gallery, installed by selected artists in relation to the current show. Audience members then traverse a short pitch-black labyrinth, also alit with sound, to enter the space. (Glow tape arrows on the floor in darkened spaces provide guidance.)
Ven Voisey has created a site-specific composition that explores his relationship to the space within Audium. He is drawn to how space is occupied--and the sounds that inhabit, infiltrate, and swell.
About his artmaking process, Voisey says:
"I spend a lot of time listening to my surroundings. It's an intentional effort, something I try to make room for; a way of bringing myself to the present. I often end up humming along to the sounds, or mimicing what I hear -- a tool for understanding my presence within space... I follow hints of what's there already and build upon that, layer upon, mutate it, obscure it, build choirs out of it, then bring attention back."
Through a methodology of listening, Voisey works with field recordings from Audium's building and surrounding neighborhood as a starting place. Audiences will hear creaking chairs, the hum of a breaker box, the phasing pulse of equipment cooling fans, door hinges, water pipes, and the wave-like, sub-audible sounds of traffic passing outside.
In the lobby, an ensemble of 9-foot wooden towers topped with rotating horn speakers welcome audiences. Voisey's creations intermittently sing out with disembodied voices, in resonant harmony to some aspect of their surroundings. The resulting songs are at times alluring and transcendent, at others, discordant and haunting.
ABOUT AUDIUM: A San Francisco original, built over 50 years ago and updated in 2020, Audium provides an experience unlike anything available anywhere else in the world. Listeners are bathed in electronic sound and music, which is moved around the space in real-time. These "sound sculptures" are performed for audiences in complete darkness in the 49-seat theater. Shows at Audium extend beyond the inner sanctum. The experience begins at the entrance to the building, with a permanent sound installation at the front door, and continuing with visual-and-audio pieces in the lobby gallery, installed by selected artists in relation to the current show. Audience members then traverse a short pitch-black labyrinth, also alit with sound, to enter the space. (Glow tape arrows on the floor in darkened spaces provide guidance.)
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About his artmaking process, Voisey says:
"I spend a lot of time listening to my surroundings. It's an intentional effort, something I try to make room for; a way of bringing myself to the present. I often end up humming along to the sounds, or mimicing what I hear -- a tool for understanding my presence within space... I follow hints of what's there already and build upon that, layer upon, mutate it, obscure it, build choirs out of it, then bring attention back."
Through a methodology of listening, Voisey works with field recordings from Audium's building and surrounding neighborhood as a starting place. Audiences will hear creaking chairs, the hum of a breaker box, the phasing pulse of equipment cooling fans, door hinges, water pipes, and the wave-like, sub-audible sounds of traffic passing outside.
In the lobby, an ensemble of 9-foot wooden towers topped with rotating horn speakers welcome audiences. Voisey's creations intermittently sing out with disembodied voices, in resonant harmony to some aspect of their surroundings. The resulting songs are at times alluring and transcendent, at others, discordant and haunting.
ABOUT AUDIUM: A San Francisco original, built over 50 years ago and updated in 2020, Audium provides an experience unlike anything available anywhere else in the world. Listeners are bathed in electronic sound and music, which is moved around the space in real-time. These "sound sculptures" are performed for audiences in complete darkness in the 49-seat theater. Shows at Audium extend beyond the inner sanctum. The experience begins at the entrance to the building, with a permanent sound installation at the front door, and continuing with visual-and-audio pieces in the lobby gallery, installed by selected artists in relation to the current show. Audience members then traverse a short pitch-black labyrinth, also alit with sound, to enter the space. (Glow tape arrows on the floor in darkened spaces provide guidance.)
show less
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1616 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
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