Next to a cable car line on top of San Francisco’s Nob Hill sits Grace Cathedral, a relatively modern church that looks like a scaled-down version of Paris’ Notre Dame. I arrived on a recent evening to see AURA by Moment Factory.
Clocking in at just under an hour, AURA is a projection-mapped light show synced to a new age orchestral soundtrack. (Note: Audio is not included in the above video due to copyright.) The show begins with a black and white animated segment — the only segment with narration — covering a very brief history of the location dating back to the indigenous people who once called San Francisco home.
The show is somewhat divided into segments, each blending seamlessly into the next. Many were just pretty video or laser effects that unfortunately didn’t have any overall theme. The segment I found most profound was when the roof of the building seemed to become transparent, offering a glimpse of a thunderstorm.
A webapp could be opened from a QR code, which included real-time captions for the narrated segment, details about the church for the audience to explore before the show, as well as a pre-show feature that would cause colored sparkly lights to appear. None of this seemed particularly compelling, though I think the information about the building could have been interesting with more ambient light; as it was it was too dark to see some of the church’s more interesting artifacts on display. It’s a shame they didn’t lean more into the interactive elements though, particularly given that it was marketed as “immersive.”
For all of AURA’s shortcomings, the musty, dark, echo-y venue proved to be the real star of the show.
My recommendation: AURA has its moments and tickets are reasonably priced. If nothing else it’s a chance to see Grace Cathedral (and the rest of Nob Hill) at night. Tickets can be purchased via Fever.
