Audio technology opens a new frontier in the art market

February 17, 2021

Visual-auditory experiences are not necessarily new to the art world, but multisensory experiences are increasingly gaining traction as new ways to reach audiences. "Alchemical," a collaborative exhibition by Jan St. Werner and UCLA professor Casey Reas, combines Reas' projected film stills, prints, and videos with Werner's electroacoustic sound creations.  

Casey Reas and Jan St. Werner’s Untitled 3 (I withdraw) for Alchemical, bitforms gallery in New York

"Art is often viewed as a visual medium, but there’s growing awareness that all senses can be engaged to reach and move audiences. Anna Mitchell looks at the space where audio meets art.

With an ever widening body of multisensory experiences on offer; sound, touch and smell are increasingly being explored by today’s artists as ways to evoke responses. With new audio products and approaches helping drive some of the most ambitious projects today, the space where art and audio combine is fascinating and well worth a look for even the most practically-minded of audio professionals.  

Installed in dark rooms, some audio artworks deliberately dull other senses to bring the audio to the fore. Others combine a visual element. But the common factor in the most interesting projects is that audio is never a soundtrack to support the visual. It doesn’t take a secondary role, it is a valid and vital part of the resulting work."— Inavate, Feb. 2 2021

This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Inavate website.
Read more about Casey Reas.

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