Between Sound and Vision, Feb/Mar 01, installation view

Between Sound and Vision traverses the realms of aural and visual experience with musical scores, sculptural instruments, and recordings of graphic compositions, some of which have never before been recorded. The exhibit's roots belong to an extended circle of composers, performance artists, visual artists and poets associated with experimental composer John Cage. In 1969, Cage edited a seminal book, Notations (Something Else Press)-the first collection ever of graphic scores by over 150 artists. Since the 1970s, these hand-painted, penciled, printed and collaged compositions have been tucked away in the Northwestern University Music Library where they are rarely seen and almost never heard. Remarkable for their visual impact alone, these pieces also demonstrate the inextricable connection between seeing and hearing, and usher the viewer/listener into an interstitial space between music and visual art.

Including 48 of the original notations, Between Sound and Vision augments these historic scores with an international array of contemporary artists who continue this vital tradition. These artists' works range from graphic and aural poetry to self-playing sculptural instruments to pared down aural installations created from water and light. As the curators wrote in the exhibition catalog, these works "in no way denounce the visual...Attentive listening and the multifarious richness of sonic dimensions invigorate and enlarge our capacity...to see."

Eric Andersen, Alison Knowles, Paul Panhuysen and Cube perform at the opening reception as do a group of emerging experimental electronic musicians that includes Nathaniel Braddock. Supplementing this exhibit are a lecture/performance by Anderson, educational workshops for children and adult groups and a web site: www.betweensoundandvision.org.

Accompanied by a 28 page, b/w catalog, with a 15 track audio CD.