Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/972198
maltatoday SUNDAY 22 APRIL 2018 31 This Week How did the core idea of the exhibition first come about, and what were some of the dynamics you hoped to explore? Various types of sensations lie at the basis of equally varied and divergent creative possibili- ties. What differences are there between the established compo- sitional genres like animation, motion picture, and many oth- ers? What kind of role do artists who take an experimental ap- proach to sound have, and how do they contribute to the debate of what is 'realism'? These and many other questions contrib- ute to the rich diversity of issues that spring up from what we re- fer to as "visual music". There are a variety of visual structures which could be called visual music. Classified as a spe- cific type of (intermedia) art, visual music is principally con- cerns the use of musical struc- tures that make reference to and connect with visual expressions. In many cases, sound or music is transformed into pictures through a variety of means, but equally viable solutions in the opposite direction can be im- agined too, particularly when the visual elements (and other structures such as text) are con- verted into sound. Visual music therefore, can be thought of as a search for a unified spirit. The genre is known for producing exciting experi- ments to match, synchronise (and sometimes a-synchronise) sound and (motion) picture. The different media are not perceived as one complement- ing the other, but are built to- gether where one is determined by the other. One can step from one to the other through dif- ferent transcoding, with the presented end product that can be termed as a visible acous- tic. At the point where a sound event and a visual event meet in synchrony, the effect of "syn- chresis" (Chion) becomes par- ticularly prominent. I have started to organise dif- ferent symposia in connection with the visual music for eight years. The first edition was held in Budapest ('Hear the pictures, see the sound! – Visual Music in the contemporary arts'), the next was in connection an art festival at the Balaton Lake in Hungary ('Hearing the eye, see- ing the ear) – after it had a new (projected) edition in Budapest too. The last one had became an international event taking place at Kaposvar University and ti- tled VACOU. Personally as artist and theo- rist I am interested mostly in the new possibilities of this genre. Which (new) passages can appear between the sound and pictures? What is the char- acteristic feature of synchrony or asynchrony? How we can in- terpret "synchresis"? What role does software and new technol- ogy play in all of this? The fact is that we perceive our surroundings in a holistic fash- ion, so why should we renounce this in the field of art? Let's also remember that, strictly speak- ing, the visual music tradition stretches back to something like 300 years – it is, quite simply, a tradition that marries visuals through sounds and explores the correspondences that arise from this interlink. So our exhi- bition is perhaps an attempt to get at the age-old questions and inquiries that arise from this ar- tistic phenomenon. Given how it emphasises both the visual and the aural aspects of experience, how strongly would you say the exhibition reacts to Maltese realties in particular? This exhibition does not in- tend to be representative of every aspect of current work in the visual music/acoustics gen- re. What we present here is a very small sample of the think- ing and practice of the field. The artists' definitions of the theme are actually as broad as their work indicates, as they're working under no restraints or boundaries. Emanating from the (classical) pure silent visual music tradition, the exhibition looks at how artists using cur- rent technology recreate this form, where having a computer at their disposal, as a tool with a natural proclivity of combin- ing visual and aural structures, contributes to the quantity and quality of works. In most cases, these works present experiences that have not undergone research in the classical tradition, but rather lean towards the interest artists have in the use of such uncon- ventional media and the excite- ment of experimentation. Through the computer, man has created an active, creative partner to produce wholly new aesthetic experiences. Through digital technology, visual- acoustic works of art experi- ment with new ways of merging sound and image, creating ho- listic works that meld tradition- al and digital media through a software-world, in search of re- alising a new, magical age. There are some discernible differences in this exhibition between the Maltese and the other (e.g., Hungarian born or Polish) artists. The Maltese artists forming part of this ex- hibition have shown a prefer- ence for explicitly dealing with social realities. The interaction itself causes to activity the au- dience. The intentional (back- ground) meaning in some cases directs to (social) realities (such as Pierre Portelli's Economies of Desire). The other exhibited contemporary works are mostly based on the avant-garde tradi- tion, particularly geometrical abstraction (the forerunners of which would be the likes of László Moholy-Nagy, Gyorgy Kepes or Nicolas Schöffer). These artists rethink the tra- dition and present for today's audience, viewer (among these are Gábor Palotai, T. Bortnyik/ Tubák, Jerzy Olek, László Zsolt Bordos and Zsanett Szirmay). In the latter case, we don't in fact get such a clear-cut reflection of social problems or the vagaries of 'common' reality, so the two approaches complement each other quite well. On what basis were the chosen artists selected, and how would you say their idiosyncratic visions contribute to the overarching ideas of the exhibition as a whole? The invited artists for this event come from Malta, Hun- gary, Sweden, Poland, Germany and Austria. They use differ- ent techniques and tools, such as eye-tracking equipment, 3D mapping projection, interac- tive installation, audio-video, animation, data-generation, sound-texture and printing. The common thread through- out the exhibition is in its com- mon goal – that of an approach that reflects the general feeling of our contemporary thinking, society and its relationship with the ever-changing technological landscape. What would you say VIVA contributes to the Maltese visual arts scene? Being based in Hungary and having spent some three or four months in Malta, forging healthy relationships with some contemporary artists from here, I can say I've established some- thing of a connection with Mal- tese life and art. It's very excit- ing to see it unfold in front of you – what you have is fresh and contemporary, and it expresses itself against a backdrop of var- Curator Zsolt Gyenes speaks to TEODOR RELJIC about VAC – Visual Acoustics, an exhibition exploring the dynamics between visual art and sound, and forming part of the Valletta International Visual Arts Festival programme Hearing the visual VAC – Visual Acoustics will remain on display at Malta School of Art in Old Bakery Street, Valletta until May 4. Participating artists include: Matthew Attard, László Zsolt Bordos, Éva T. Bortnyik, Csaba Tubák, Vince Briffa, Matthew Galea, Antal Lux, Jerzy Olek, Gabor Palotai, Pierre Portelli, Zsanett Szirmay. Opening hours: 08:00-20:00 (Monday to Friday). The exhibition is curated by Zsolt Gyenes, and forms part of the Valletta International Visual Arts Festival (VIVA) Economies of Desire: Radical disorder by Pierre Portelli. Photo by Vince Briffa Stills from the film Odysseus by Gábor Palotai