Ebb/Flow - Flow/Ebb: A Dialogue Between Visual Arts and Music

Alex Designori

This research explores the synergy between auditory and visual sensory impressions, investigating how music and visual arts can merge, interact, and resonate reciprocally to create a unique cross-modal performance. Central to this research is the collaboration with the visual artist Damiano Colombi. The focus is placed on two distinct types of interaction: large canvases enriching the visual space on stage, around which the musician moves, and digital projections created with TouchDesigner, a software that generates real-time visuals reacting to the music. These contrasting approaches shape an immersive experience, transforming sound into moving images and creating a dynamic interplay between structured visual elements and fluid digital projections. A central challenge of this research is to create a balanced interaction between the auditory and visual components, so that each artistic discipline complements and enhances the other, allowing a continuous dialogue between sound and image. Throughout the creative process, these ideas evolved organically, guided by continuous experimentation and reflection. By documenting the sensations, insights, and evolving artistic choices, this research not only explores the theoretical and technical intersections between music and visual arts but also highlights the deeply personal and intuitive nature of interdisciplinary collaboration. Ultimately, this research provides a framework for crafting audiovisual performances that foster a compelling and harmonious fusion of music and visual arts.

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cytowic, Richard E. Synesthesia. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2018.

Evans, Karla K., and Anne Treisman. “Natural Cross-Modal Mappings between Visual and Auditory Features.” Journal of Vision 10, no. 1 (January 6, 2011). https://doi.org/10.1167/10.1.6.

Galeyev, B. M., and I. L. Vanechkina. “Was Scriabin a Synesthete?” Leonardo 34, no. 4 (August 1, 2001): 357-61. https://doi.org/10.1162/00240940152549357.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Theory of colours. Translated by Charles Lock Eastlake. London: John Murray, 1840.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Zur Farbenlehre. Tübingen, 1810.

Kandinsky, Wassily. Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Translated by M. T. H. Sadler. New York: Dover Publications, 1977.

Liew, Kongmeng, PerMagnus Lindborg, Ruth Rodrigues, and Suzy J. Styles. “Cross-Modal Perception of Noise-in-Music: Audiences Generate Spiky Shapes in Response to Auditory Roughness in a Novel Electroacoustic Concert Setting.” Frontiers in Psychology 9 (February 20, 2018). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00178.

Reymore, Lindsey, and Delwin T. Lindsey. “Color and Tone Color: Audiovisual Crossmodal Correspondences with Musical Instrument Timbre.” Frontiers in Psychology 15 (January 7, 2025). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1520131.

Rimington, A. Wallace. A new art: Colour-Music. London: Spottiswoode & Co., 1895.

Spence, Charles. “Crossmodal Correspondences: A Tutorial Review.” Attention, Perception & Psychophysics 73 (January 19, 2011): 971-95. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-010-0073-7.

Spence, Charles, and Nicola Di Stefano. “Coloured Hearing, Colour Music, Colour Organs, and the Search for Perceptually Meaningful Correspondences between Colour and Sound.” i-Perception 13, no. 3 (May 2022). https://doi.org/10.1177/20416695221092802.

to 7. Acknowledgements ...

to the Title page ...

to the Table of contents

Tip

Tip

Alex Designori - Ebb/Flow - Flow/Ebb: A Dialogue Between Visual Arts and Music - 2025