I must begin by saying that I am somewhat skeptical about the concept of visual music. While the relation between sound and visual information can make for a compelling experience, I feel that it is not useful to become singularly concerned with their similarities at the expense of neglecting the aspects unique to each medium. Rather, it seems more appropriate to focus attention on how the two add to a work of art as separate components; how one can strengthen the impact of the other; and finally, how one can inspire the other.

With that said, the early works presented in the “Visual Music” exhibit succeed in demonstrating how visual media can be like music, as their lack of objective form forces the viewer to experience the work internally; or in the case of Richter’s Fuge in Rot und Grun, provide a visual representation of aspects of a particular style of music. Later in the exhibit, however, with the advent of technologies allowing for moving images and the artificial reproduction of sound, the ability to create works that show the interplay between music and images on multiple levels was vastly increased. As in earlier examples, the works are subjective and experienced internally but now images could also be inspired by sound literally as it occurs and vice-versa.

Overall, “Visual Music” was an excellent exploration of the synergy of sight and sound in artistic expression throughout history and how it relates to multimedia today.