Audiovisuology: See this Sound

An interdisciplinary Survey of Audiovisual Culture

So I wanted to share this book I got at the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum in Berlin. Audiovisuology: See This Sound runs through the history and theory of art forms that combine sound with image. Its survey ranges from philosophical models of antiquity up to present day technology. It is broken down into two parts:

Section I: The Historical
This section has 26 chapters each covering a single art form. Some fields covered are Animation, Theatre, Dance, Abstract Film, Color Organs, Expanded Cinema, Literature and Music Video. Each chapter is on only one art form, starting as far back in history where that form originated, touches on notable works and artist in the field and how those artists built off each other. Every chapter ends with an in depth analysis of a few works mentioned in the chapter with a lot of colored photographs. One chapter I found interesting was on Pythagorean theory of harmonics and how, at the time, those formulas were applied to both music and architecture, the idea that Architecture was to be seen as ‘frozen music.’

Section II: The Systematical
This section has 9 chapters and covers the psychological aspect of sound and image. Some chapters are Audiovisual Perception, Color/Tone Analogies, Synchronization and Synesthesia.

I haven’t finished the book yet but so far I can see this as a textbook to a survey course on the topic, if there is such a thing. Basically the book covers (broadly) a huge topic in less than 500 pages; for sure every chapter could be a book in itself (and probably is). It isn’t a “how to” book but there is plenty to be inspired and influenced by.

Accompanying website*
See-This-Sound