We are excited to begin sharing highlights from the 2024 program! This year’s symposium will explore the captivating theme of Visual Music, offering thought-provoking presentations on the fusion of sound and visual art. Additionally, attendees will have the unique opportunity to experience live performances that bring the speakers’ ideas to life.
The Visual Music Symposium explores how visual art and animation intersect with music, where artists and researchers blend sound and visuals to create dynamic experiences. Four speakers, Birgitta Hosea, Derek Holtzer, William Bishop-Stevens, and Trygve Nielsen, present their work, which combines art, sound, and technology in groundbreaking ways.
DOTDOT DASH with Birgitta Hosea
During the performance Dotdot Dash, which will be performed later during the festival, and which has previously been performed at venues in China, the US and the UK, each participant is given two laser pens and is invited to follow Hosea’s instructions on what marks to make and colors to use. The work is conceived as a live concert of visual music and Hosea bases the orchestration upon a chance-based graphic score, encouraging the audience to sing along. This talk, as the performance, discusses whether it is possible to make site-specific, live animation and how this can be created through participation.
A Media Archaeology of Scan Processing (1969-2024) with Derek Holzer
Scan processing is an analog electronic image manipulation technology which emerged in the late 1960s, and was made obsolete by digital computing in the 1980s. During this period, instruments such as the Scanimate (1969) and the Rutt/Etra Video Synthesizer (1973) revolutionized commercial animation and inspired a generation of experimental video artists. This talk will discuss the history and functioning of scan processors as real time visual and audiovisual instruments and look at contemporary attempts of technological re-enactment.
THURM IX/William Bishop-Stevens
This talk presents the work Thurm IX and the artistic practice of Bishop-Stephens that involves using pre-cinematic animation techniques to blend very small real-world material elements into a large moving visual field, which envelopes the viewer within a live event. Thurm IX is a sculpture/performance with sound, that has the appearance of an improvised laboratory set-up, with metal rods and fixings, holding a rotating zoetrope wheel of paint, collage and found objects, plus a motor, lights and small cameras. The repeating forms rotate at a speed that falls into and out of sync with the camera’s fixed 30fps frame rate.
Hand Drawn Sound for the Oscilloscope with Trygve Nielsen
“Drawing pictures with sound” on the oscilloscope has been applied as an experimental film making technique since the 1950s. The last decade some tools has been developed to reverse this process, where you, applying the same logic, instead generate sound from 3D models. In a research project Nielsen, Tuva Synnevåg and Eilif Hensvold have generated musical sound from 2D hand drawn animation with these tools. This talk presents the tools, the process and some of the results of the research.
The presentation will be followed with a panel and Q&A.
Get your tickets to the Symposium: Visuel Music here. (Free for anyone with a pass for the day in question.)
To dive deeper into Visual Music you should also visit these exhibitions and events:
Exhibition: DOTDOT DASH with Birgitta Hosea
The artist Birgitta Hosea from Scotland leads everyone in a mass light installation with lasers and improvised vocals in the St. Croix underpass to scare away all the fears of the night.
Exhibition: THRUM IX with Dr. William Bishop Stephens
Sculptural installation/performance with sound and projected image.
Exhibition: Visual Music Design Fiction by Trygve Nielsen
Visual Music Design Fiction is a book project that describes possible and impossible ideas for turning sound into vision or vision into sound.
Exhibition: Hand Drawn Sound – Installation by Tuva Synnevåg, Eilif Hensvold and Trygve Nielsen
This exhibition includes a cassette deck and an oscilloscope; the cassette deck plays music at a low volume through its internal speakers, while the audio signal also is sent to the oscilloscope where it generates pictures on the screen. The audience can also take a closer listen to the music through a provided pair of headphones. The music you hear is made from hand drawn, frame by frame animation.
Animated Live: Hand Drawn Sound – Live by Eilif Hensvold and Trygve Nielsen
The animators and musicians Eilif Hensvold and Trygve Nielsen explore the possibilities of contemporary media technology for generating sound by transforming the expressiveness of hand-drawn animation into audio. The animation is specially made by Tuva Synnevåg for the occasion.
Animated Live: Brainwash Machine
Brainwash Machine presents a multimedia and performative work, bordering on an installation, featuring instrumental electronica. The music has clear melodic progression and a narrative that moves from section to section, giving Brainwash Machine a classical touch while exploring modern electronic rhythms.
Attend the events and exhibitions by reserving your tickets here. (Most are free if you have a pass for the day in question.)
The event is supported by
