1: visual music

colour organs

Isaac Newton’s colour circle, and Louis Bertrand Castel’s ‘Clavecin Oculaire’

Newton's colour circle (1704).
Newton’s colour circle (1704).

Alexander Wallace Rimington, Mary Hallock-Greenewalt

A.W.Rimington and his colour organ.
A.W.Rimington and his colour organ.
Colour instrument invented by Mary Hallock Greenewalt.
Colour instrument invented by Mary Hallock Greenewalt.

Thomas Wilfred

Opus 158 by Thomas Wilfred (1963-64).
Opus 158 by Thomas Wilfred (1963-64).

abstract film

First experiments by Arnaldo Ginna and Bruno Corra
First preserved films by Viking Eggeling and Walther Ruttmann
Oskar Fischinger as a central figure.

Still from 'Alegretto' by Oskar Fischinger (1932).
Still from ‘Alegretto’ by Oskar Fischinger (1932).

John and James Whitney, Jordan Belson, Harry Smith

Still from 'Samadhi' by Jordan Belson.
Still from ‘Samadhi’ by Jordan Belson.

synthetic video

Eric Siegel
Dan Sandin, Rutt-Etra and Steven Beck

Dan Sandin and his Image Processor.
Dan Sandin and his Image Processor.

the return of the modular video synthesizer

interactive software

Scott Snibbe, Golan Levin, Scott Draves
VJ-ing and live cinema

synesthesia and analogy

– some people are synesthetes
(famous examples are Alexander Scriabin and Olivier Messiaen)
– studied by science since 1920’s, some correspondences are arbitrary, some are not
– analogies are fundamental for how we think

Analogy as a way to invent a new art form.

Overview of colour-scales compiled by Fred Collopy.
Overview of colour-scales compiled by Fred Collopy.
Maluma-Takete experiment by Wolfgang Koehler (1927).
Synesthesia experiment by Wolfgang Koehler (1927).

Joost Rekveld