Audium

Audium is a one of a kind theatre in San Francisco, California, which pioneers the exploration of space in music. There are 169 speakers which providing sounds to listeners either as they move past, over or under the speakers. In the dark 49 seat theatre, Sound Sculptures are performed.

Audium began in the late 1950s, when space was an unexplored dimension in music composition. The theater is best described as building within a building, inside is a foyer, sound labyrinth and a main performance space, it was built in part with a grant from National Endowment for the Arts.

Visitors to the theatre sit in concentric circles and are enveloped by sloping walls of speakers, a floating floor and suspended ceiling. Each program is performed live by a tape performer who directs the sound through a console that is custom designed to send the music through a combination of the speakers. The live performances of taped works provide a human interactive element to the spatial electronic orchestra.

Performances are held at Audium each Friday and Saturday nights; all visitors need to be over the age of 12. The owners of Audium ask that their visitors to see with their ears and feel with their bodies the sounds as images dreams and memories.