Where sound meets vision: art and the convergence of sound and vision

Over the course of the twentieth-century, both the ethereal material of sound and light (vision) converged through emerging technology and mediums – creating new audio-visual art practices and forms. Whilst artists past and present still use sound and vision in singular artistic practices, the emergence of The Internet is creating a conundrum for sonic artists. This is because The Internet is a multimedia medium, creating a need for sonic artists to explore the possibilities of audio-visual practices to utilize the full potential of the medium. Furthermore, prominent academic and sound artist Barry Truax posits in his key sound art text Acoustic Communication ‘we live in a visually centred culture’. The conundrum of sound only art practices like soundscaping, and how to transform such practices into audio-visual ones for broader viewing and dissemination on multimedia mediums is the question to be investigated in the thesis. The practical component of the thesis, through practice-led experimentation will demonstrate how to transform the sound only practice of soundscaping into an audio-visual form. To achieve both these aims, historical avant-garde film art or ‘film painting’ and sonic art will be explored, along with digital art theory.