Visual Music

The Center for Visual Music ( CVM ) has set up a a library, gallery and archive of the history of Visual Music at Patreon. Become a member at a range of prices to access exclusive content of relevance to the history and contemporary practice of visual music. More info on CVM's collection "has the world’s largest collection of Visual Music-related materials. The collections include papers, films and artwork by Oskar Fischinger; the original research collection of animation historian Dr. William Moritz, and collections covering the history of Visual Music: artists, exhibitions, theories, color organs, vintage instruments, Expanded Cinema, performances, historic events, 1960s psychedelic light shows and more." [ source ] For more inform…

BOOK: Visual Music Masters: Abstract Explorations: History and Contemporary Research Author: Adriano Abbado 2018 Adriano Abbado’s recent publication on the history and contemporary practice of Visual Music is available now. A great resource for all interested in learning more about the origins and the field of visual music. It is richly illustrated and very clearly organised and so is also really great for pedagogy purposes too. You can order the book at Amazon at the following link Adriano has provided some more information on the book at his website: http://www.noisegrains.com/?page_id=237 Book topics I History The Beginnings Music and Early Twentieth-Century Luminous Instruments Abstract Films Music and Abstract Art Electronic Art II Contemporary Developments Anim…

Oskar Fischinger: Visual Music CVM (Center for Visual Music) has just released a new Oskar Fischinger DVD available now to order from CVM, entitled:  Oskar Fischinger: Visual Music The DVD features the following works: Study no. 2, c. 1930, silent Study no. 5, 1930 Study no. 8, 1931 Coloratura, 1932 Muratti greift ein (Muratti Marches On), 1934 Swiss Trip (Rivers and Landscapes), 1934 Komposition in Blau (Composition in Blue), 1935 ( excerpt online ) An American March, 1941 with bonus features: Pierrette I, 1924-26 1920s-30s Home Movies and Experiments, Berlin (black and white) Squares fragment (1934) and various 1930s color animation tests, image below (note, Squares image is from original artwork painted for the film) "Concerto" and ne…

The online article "A Brief History of Optical Synthesis" was written by Derek Holzer in 2007 as part of his Tonewheels project exploring optical sound and colour music. This web article became the basis of a lecture that Derek gives on optical sound and graphical composition. Quote from introduction "The technology of synthesizing sound from light is a curious combination of research from the realms of mathematics, physics, electronics and communications theory which found realization in the industries of motion picture films, music, surveillance technology and finally digital communications. As such, it's history is an interesting cross section of 20th century history, reaching from the euphoria of the late 19th Century and early 20th Cent…

Found: new restorations and discoveries from Center for Visual Music Tate Modern, Starr Auditorium Thursday 26 September 2013, 19.00 – 21.00 £5, concessions available. "This selection explores lost, legendary and rare treasures found in the archives of Center for Visual Music (CVM). Featuring rare works by Jordan Belson, including two unreleased films, the unfinishedQuartet and the premiere of the restoration of the infamous LSD, plus a reel from the legendary San Francisco Vortex Concerts (1957–9), and the rarely screened Bopscotch...The programme, featuring many new preserved 16 mm and 35 mm prints, is introduced by archivist/curator Cindy Keefer of CVM." Visit Tate Modern web page for more information www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern…

A Concrete Cinema? one of several articles and presentations by Christian Gosvig Olesen on the Curating the Moving Image Blog. Christian has researched this area with great thoroughness and his articles are an excellent resource for those tracking the history of visual music and audiovisual work where there one of its main focuses is on music. In contemporary audiovisual practice, visuals are presented with electroacoustic music and in particular there are many contemporary flavours of music concrete music being used alongside a visual equivalent - a moving image concrete. Concrete cinema is a most apt term here as used by Christian in his articles. He traces the connections with Pierre Schaeffer, whom used the term cinéma concret to describe the intention to work …

"This work is the result of a chance meeting between two studies: one sound: a study by Pierre Schaeffer , the other visual: sequences shot by the artist Raymond Hains with fluted lens whose movements multiply and colorful animated graphics." google translate from website link below Link: http://www.ina.fr/fresques/artsonores/fiche-media/InaGrm00201/etude-aux-allures.html Article: Aural Vision and Non-Sense – A certain cinema… that one could call concrete on Curating the Moving Image Blog and article post A concrete cinema link

Sergio Maltagliati CIRCUS 5.1 UNICUM GRAPHICS The images of HomeArt programs by Pietro Grossi, are proposed through software by Sergio Maltagliati. This is a software which generates always different graphical variations.  It is based on HomeArt’s Basic source code.  The music program produces an automatic and generative music,starting from a simple sound cell. Visu@lMusic/HomeArt www.visualmusic.it free video download: http://www.pietrogrossi.org/cerchio4_2_unicum.7z download images: http://www.pietrogrossi.org/Cerchio_4_2%20immagini.7z About "A/V interactive compositions on the NET by Sergio Maltagliati Beginning with netOper@ in 1997, Sergio Maltagliati has created works on the Internet that combine audio and video elements into an intrigui…

Historical Resource The Center for Visual Music (CVM) has a really useful research page on the Charles Dockum, the inventor of the mobilcolor projector - a projection device for performing abstract colour imagery. Visit website: http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Dockum/

"Space Light Art" - Early Abstract Cinema and Multimedia, 1900-1959 by Cindy Keefer Article online at: http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/CKSLAexc.htm

Preserving Visual Music - By Holly Willis - May 8, 2009 "After more than 70 years and the explosion of visual culture, the stunning animated films of Oskar Fischinger remain unparalleled. Fischinger, who emigrated to Los Angeles from Germany in 1936 and became one of the city's central figures in a burgeoning avant-garde filmmaking community, created dozens of dazzling visual explorations of sound... This question is tackled head-on by Cindy Keefer, Director of LA's Center for Visual Music, which is dedicated to this particular genre of experimental film... one of the Center's key objectives is preservation. In this context, CVM recently announced that it has received funds from the Avant-Garde Masters Grant (which is funded by The Film Foundation and …

I am hoping to better gather together essays and articles on visual music and visual music relevant topics in this blog.  I have only recently realised that blogger provides a tag facility, and so posts can be accessed via the tags.  A few such tags I wish to try to provide more posts for is the tags: essay , article , research , writing .  I have come across a lot of good writing - online or otherwise, so I am probably really doing this for myself, so I can quickly get access to them again.   CVM and iotaCenter  based in Los Angeles, US provide really good resources and links to excellent resources.  Check them out for more up to date and extensive links. If you have a link to an excellent essay, piece of writing or resource, I would love to put it in this blog, if y…

Notes on a Triangle by Rene Jodoin 1966 - play online at ONF

Walter Ruttmann Light-Play Opus I - 1921 - Video Clip Available

Thomas Wilfred - Lumia - Flash Reproduction of Light Animation. "Untitled", Opus 161, 1965/66. "The animation, featured here, is a Flash based 'movie' made up of 30 still images taken from Wilfred's Opus 161., and produced for us by the Pompidou Centre, Paris. Special thanks to Michel Fernandez of the Centre Pompidou for producing this animation and for permission to use it here." See http://www.lumia-wilfred.org/content/animation/op161.html for more information

Len Lye - Videos on Google Video