Audio Foundation

“The temporary suspension of normal proceedings. A hidden place, an alcove. A secret spot. A break from the usual, some time off. An escape, a breather. A bit of a rest, smoko. A nook, a niche, a cleft. A wee interregnum. An interruption, a pause, a brief respite.”

AUDIO FOUNDATION Recess is a residency open to sound artists and researchers – merging, emerging, submerging, early, mid, or late career. The aim of the residency is to provide sound artists an enclave to work in, as well as an opportunity to activate the Auckland Old Folks Association hall in a new way.

AF Recess offers time and space and a small weekly stipend. The residency is an opportunity for sound artists to process and create work in a dedicated room, in a central location, on their own schedule. Allowing residency participants to steep their creative processes within the hall walls.

The studio itself is an empty space, a blank canvas, a recess within the larger body of the building. Although the studio is diminutive there is scope to extend into other areas of the Old Folks hall, further offering unique spatial dimensions to work on one’s sonic practice. The hall is considered a living artwork with a presence and an aliveness in its decayed state that nourishes and evokes creative contemplation. The residency encourages participants to respond to the architectural constraints and rich cultural atmos of the hall itself, finishing with an artistic output (such as an exhibition or performance). Whilst there is some latitude for existing projects to be developed, preference will be given to fresh ideas that commune with the hall itself.
Such as proposals that have a community focused angle, and / or respond to the Auckland Old Folks Association (or ‘OFA’) kaupapa which fostered gatherings among its members “irrespective of status or creed”. The Auckland Old Folks Association was originally founded in 1945 to provide social services for the elderly. In 2006 artist Sean Curham joined the committee. From that moment there has been an evolving focus towards supporting artistic activations and cultural production. A gently persistent emphasis has been given to artistic and research practices that remain connected to the day to day condition of being part of a community.

AF Recess is a collaboration between the Old Folks Association and the Audio Foundation, and aims to extend and explore OFA’s kaupapa to allow sound artists and creative thinkers to experience the hall to develop ideas and projects (and potentially comingle with the regular communities who use the hall).

The duration of this residency is two to four weeks and can include public presentations at its culmination or throughout the residency (to be negotiated). There is electricity, light, Wi-Fi, access to the kitchen and a small storage cupboard.
Stipend – a nominal weekly stipend is offered along with AFtechnical support and support for public outcomes of the residency, which may include public presentation during the residency period or as part of AF programming (Performance, Gallery Exhibition, online platforms etc.)

Proposals can be sent to , with the subject title “AF Recess”. Please include documentation of your previous work, and a short proposal of what you plan to work on during the residency.

https://www.youtube.com/live/bduPoDS30uM?si=cjbx0TJv8aBsmHn9

Saturday Winter Series #2: Hermione Johnson & Sean Martin-Buss – Saturday 13 June Audio Foundation presents Saturday Winter Series #2!WithHermione...

Regional Discrepancies 2026 Announced ft. Ryosuke Kiyasu (JPN), Shayne P. Carter & Kraus, Bruce Russell & Robbie Yeats + More Spotlighting New Noises from Ōtepoti, Ōtautahi , Te Waiharakeke, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Tāmaki Makaurau, Naarm & Japan at Audio Foundation and Whammy Bar.

We're pleased to share our Gallery Programme for August – December 2026.

Opening 6 August, Mario van Horrik & Petra Dubach present 'Trans(port)(l)ation' — public transport timetables transposed into scores for hand-cranked music boxes.

From 9 October, three exhibitions open concurrently: Sina Leo's 'Threads', Natasha Munro, Ezra Munro & Lucy Pollock's 'The little guys that come out of me: sit and listen to them', and Beth Robertson's 'Foil Tracks'.

We close the year hosting the Experimental Dance Festival Aotearoa, happening across 10 venues throughout Tāmaki Makaurau.

Free entry · 4 Poynton Terrace, Newton · audiofoundation.org.nz

🍂 Autumn 2026 Artist in Residence: Pat Kraus

Kraus (aka Pat Kraus) (he/him) is a producer of psychedelic music from Aotearoa/New Zealand. Since the turn of the millennium he has released 20 solo albums on labels such as Ultra Eczema and Soft Abuse, and performed in a dozen bands. His recent synth-heavy work melds sci-fi sound-design and hypnotic polyrhythms to create new forms of head-spinning electronic music.
Kraus has also been a member of the following bands: The Murdering Monsters, The Aesthetics, The Futurians, The Maltese Falcons, Olympus, Pouffe, Mahoney/Kraus, Magic Mountain, Centre Negative, Peak Brain, The Family, Zool, and Gogg aka Clannad (NZ).

From May 19th-29th Pat will be working with multi-track tape loops, and exploring some of the recent donations to the MEL library, including vintage synthesizers, effects and drum machines.

Autumn 2026 Artist in Residence: Pat Kraus From May 19th-29th Pat will be working with multi-track tape loops, and exploring some of the recent donations to the MEL library, including vintage synthesizers, effects and drum machines.

📄 New Critical Writing now on the Soundbleed Online Journal:

‘ SOUNDS=ORBS' by NEONATUS.EXE

Initiate portals on Soundbleed.org.nz/NEONATUS-BIONATE
------------------
📡 New Broadcast on AFM

NEONATUS.EXE
SOUNDS=ORBS

Produced alongside an ellaborate suite of digital artwork on Soundbleed, this audio work by NEONATUS.EXE explores the novel concept of SOUNDS=ORBS

Broadcast: 1900 NZST RĀMERE (FRIDAY) 01 HARATUA (MAY) 2026

afm.org.nz/NEONATUS

🍂 Autumn 2026 Artist in Residence: Motoko Kikkawa

Motoko Kikkawa was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1968 and after obtaining a degree in Philosophy at Nihon University, moved to Dunedin over 20 years ago. Graduating from the Dunedin School of Art in 2010, she has been a vibrant part of the local and national art scene from the outset, as her myriad solo or collective shows, residencies, and performances up and down the country attest, in both public and private spaces. A prolific visual artist primarily creating highly detailed works on paper, Kikkawa is also unafraid to test boundaries, genres, and new materials (including video, kirigami from old wallpaper, kelp, clay, and mushroom spore tests). She is a talented violinist who regularly plays with various formations and her music-making reflects her approach to art: she listens intently, picks up moods and keys, finding harmonies and atonal notes that suggest new pathways to explore.

From April 13-15 Motoko will be playing and recording with local collaborators, and performs as part of ‘A Dream is like a Magic Cloak’ on Friday 17 April.

📄 New review now on the Soundbleed Online Journal:

‘Observations of the 3rd Aotearoa International Festival of Secret(e) Sounds’ by Joshua Taylor.

Read the full piece here: https://soundbleed.org.nz/Joshua-Taylor

Audio Foundation presents….

from the team who presented 2025’s stunning
Mass Pointillistic Tryptych –

A Black Line is a Black Hole That Went for a Walk
A vortex of sound and motion conceived by ADJunct.

Featuring live performances by Dick Move (), Grecco Romank (), TOOMS () and Trioglodyte, alongside multiple percussive ensembles and choreographed percussive movement.
Working with the reverberation of Silo 6, the work brings together sound art, light and darkness, and choreographic action, unfolding within an expansive field.
The result is neither concert nor installation, but a dynamic site of limits and excess.

$20 Presales from
Members free

THE LOOM presents a fortnightly series of new Jazz and Improvised Music!

THE LOOM #13

First:
Finn McNeill – Solo Drumset

Second:
Mauku Quartet
David Fromont – Trombone
Ryan Tomov – Piano
Minjoon Kim – Bass
Marvin Yuen – Drumset

Limited Capacity
Undertheradar pre-sales $20
Door Sales $25 Waged/$15 Unwaged
Members Free