INSTANTLY ICONIC

AUDIO SALON HOST/ENTREPRENEUR/SYSTEM AND FASHION DESIGNER DEVON TURNBULL'S RECORD-BREAKING ART OF NOISE SHOWING AT SAN FRANCISCO MOMA.

- JASON VICTOR SERINUS

FROM MAY 4 THROUGH AUGUST 18, 2024, THE SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (SFMOMA) STAGED THE LARGEST MULTISENSORY INSTALLATION CUM PERFORMANCE ART EXHIBITION IN ITS HISTORY. ENTITLED ART OF NOISE, THE MULTIROOM SHOW, WHICH OCCUPIED 14,000FT² ON THE MUSEUM'S SEVENTH FLOOR, DREW AN ESTIMATED 140,000 VISITORS, BOOSTING MUSEUM ATTENDANCE BY OVER 33% FROM THE SAME PERIOD IN 2023. EVEN ACCOUNTING FOR POSTPANDEMIC ATTENDANCE DECLINES, THAT'S AN IMPRESSIVE FIGURE.

The exhibit, designed to celebrate "pioneering designs shaping our music experiences," was the creation of two visionaries: Museum Curator Joseph Becker, 40, and New York-based' audio salon host/ entrepreneur/system and fashion designer Devon Turnbull, aka Ojas,² 45.

Some particularly nostalgic attendees spent hours gazing silently at 128 early, iconic LP record covers by trend-setting designers who included Reid Miles of Blue Note Records, Alex Steinweiss for Columbia Records, Josef Albers for Command Records, and Laini Abernathy for Delmark Records. I was particularly drawn to the covers for Enoch Light and the Light Brigade's Command Records that caused my mother to exclaim, "Look! First it's coming out of the left speaker, and now it's coming out of the right speaker. It's stereo!"

Many, including yours truly, gaped at 550 floor-to-ceiling concert posters from the heyday of San Francisco's post-Beat psychedelic rock era. The focus was on concerts promoted by Bill Graham and Chet Helms between 1966 and 1971 in venues that included The Matrix, The Fillmore (aka Fillmore West), and the Avalon Ballroom. Others headed to a huge, impressive array of fancifully designed audio devices, including (but hardly limited to) phonographs, digital music players, handheld radios, and surround sound all-in-ones.