Iconography of Sound

The course examines the relationship between sound and visual stimuli in the context of artistic creation.  More specifically, it explores how visual forms and structures are associated to sound structures with the aim to design a holistic audiovisual artwork. The ongoing interaction between sound art / music and the visual arts throughout art history is being presented and specific art movements and artworks are being discussed. The presentation includes painting as a static composition, the first experimental and abstract films. Finally the course  investigates the endless possibilities of multisensory experience and interaction offered by new digital technologies such as projects based on algorithmic graphics generators and interactive code-based applications.

The aim of the course is to clarify the central theoretical concepts concerning the conjunction between sound and image and to enhance the ability to recognize and transfer abstract sound events and compositions to visual language and visual representations. Through laboratory exercises, the goal is to acquire technical skills related to different software throughout the process of the creation of animation and moving imagery as well as to enhance students' individual style in the development of audiovisual artworks.

Week#1:  Introduction, general overview of the structure and objectives of the course. Definitions and theoretical clarifications. Presentation and categorization of image and graphics processing technologies to be used within the lab.

Week#2: The language of music and the visual language (Visual Music / Color Music). Color instruments and the color scale - octave analogy: Historical review. Line, Rhythm, Repeat, Variety, Pattern, Unity. Animating a static image to a given sound I. 

Week#3: Synesthesia as a neurological condition. Synesthetic artists. The musical form and the architectural form. Cinema as a symphony of light. Animating a static image to a given sound II.

Week#4: Abstraction in painting and movement within the composition of a static image / painting: presentation of art movements and artists. Presentation of  real time conversion systems: audio to image. 

Week#5: The first abstract films. Presentation of films and discussion.

Week#6: The music video clips and the aesthetics of pop culture. A typology of the video clip. The relation between video clip and the cinema: examples of image sequences synced to musical codes.

Week#7: The digit as the common counterpart in the creation of multisensory representation in digital technology and the capabilities of digital technology in parameterization, conversion and representation of data. Conversion of audio parameters to keyframes I.

Week#8: The internet as a platform for presentation and interaction. The interactive video clip. Conversion of audio parameters to keyframes II.

Week#9: Sound Visualization with 2 dimensional animation. Conversion of audio parameters to keyframes III.

Week#10: New forms of audiovisual environments for digital installations and performances. The fluid boundaries between playing, spectacle and art. 

Week#11: Synchronized multiple projections, 3D mapping projection, video performance. 

Week#12: Digital interactive audiovisual installations: presentation of projects and artists. Programming Languages in Audio Visualization

Week#13: Presentation of students' assignments and discussion. Summarizing main topics and discussion. 

Eικαστικές τέχνες και μουσική (τέλη 19ου και 20ός αιώνας), συναισθητικοί πειραματισμοί και οπτικοακουστικές εφαρμογές στην τέχνη του 20ού αιώνα: από τη συναισθησία στην πολυαισθητηριακή συνέργεια. Θέμις Βελένη. Διδακτορική Διατριβή . 2011. DOI 10.12681/eadd/28405

Το Μουσικό Βίντεο, Οπτικοακουστική Αφήγηση, Εργασλεία Ανάλυσης, Εκπαιδευτικές Εφαρμογές. Μαίη Κοκκίδου. 2019. ISBN13 9789606685811

Παιδαγωγικό Σημειωματάριο, Π. Κλεε. Πρώτη Έκδοση: 1925.

Presentation of projects in the context of lectures, e-class texts and multimedia, tutorial and laboratory exercises.

Enhanced by multimedia content. The learning process is supported by the asyncrhonous e-learning platform e-class.

The evaluation will be carried out through the delivery of individual assignment.