In this respect, the aim of the present dossier is to define a framework for inquiring into the notion of audiovisual environment <\/em>on the contemporary electro-scene, by linking electro acoustic and electronic music to visual image, installations, and other emerging projects in the area of media arts [AA.VV. 2010]. This research intends to address a rather common misunderstanding concerning the relationship between sound, music and images. In fact, we aim to demonstrate that audiovisual art is not just the simple combination of music and images, but it has to do with a space opened by an active interaction between different forces. It is, in other words, a space preserved for something that may come unexpectedly. In this sense, what is unexpected is something that may not have an immediate meaning, but nevertheless acquires an indescribable inner pulse that vibrates through a tension. At the bottom of this pulsation it is possible to recognize a particular energy that must be developed and can take the shape of a sound or even of something else, organising a set of different points of convergence between various dimensions. A sound pulse, for example, can pass under the treatment and control of the image and vice versa [Hegarty, 2014]. Thus, relationships between these elements are not just a matter of contiguity, but they rest on a process of composition that will be at the core of our thinking and conversations with artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea of presence is not limited to the visible sphere. In order to identify the presence \u2013 and all the entities deriving from it \u2013 we need a deeper and more acute attention to all the phenomena that stimulate our senses. In fact, there is a sort of landscape full of visual and sonic inputs determining \u2013 unconsciously \u2013 our perception. In this sense, I\u2019m referring to those tiny perceptions [Leibniz, 1921; 39] that are felt at the limit of our senses, and yet can shape our experience. These intangible implicit perceptive faculties<\/em> modify our field of experience and give it a tangible quality. There will never be \u2013 paraphrasing Leibniz \u2013 a conscious perception without the inclusion of an infinite series of tiny perceptions capable of altering and modifying the process of macro-perception taking place at any one point, and at the same time preparing for the next perception. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From the point of view of aesthetical categories, the work of artists such as Granular Synthesis (Kurt Hentschlager and Ulf Langheinrich), Ryoji Ikeda or Ryoichi Kurokawa, Herman Kolgen, or Elio Martusciello is marked by a deep inquire into territories that deal with the discussion of sight and sound perception, working on the boundaries of subliminal processes that are able to organise visual and auditory architectures so to create an immersive ambience for the spectator. In other words, these works develop an organic and compositional dimension, where the subliminal part plays a central role in giving consistency to the whole work, and flows into the spectators\u2019 perception like an underground current. This subtle dimension takes shape in the folds of sound and images, drawing a meaningful constellation and letting a tension emerge between an evident and tangible dimension \u2013 that of the visible electro-scene \u2013 and an intangible and underground one that makes it possible. The perspective we propose, instead, is based on the fact that we believe that an audio-video synchronization alone cannot be considered a work of art in itself. On the contrary, it is necessary to imagine a process of composition <\/em>in which the aesthetic sensibility should work freely and harmonically on the two layers. This is the first point in order to locate our work within the field of contemporary audiovisual performance and installations, and it is a point of view that reflects the artistic scene we want to focus on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To think in terms of composition means to be aware that the intensity of a live electronic performance is reached through musical and visual elements, which are nothing but the surface of the work. A deeper and more complex process lays underneath: it doesn’t operate neither in visual nor in acoustical terms; but rather it is based on time, space, movement, forms and organic qualities of matter. In other words, this is the definition of an invisible background texture, which makes the visible and the audible stand out and be perceived. What emerges here is a subliminal dimension of the artistic communication, coming out of the artwork and overwhelming the audience (J. Demers, 2010; 45 and F. Dyson, 2014; 56 sgg).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this context we will consider the work of artists that focus their research on certain themes of particular interest. We will tackle three main themes of central importance: a first element is the creation of immersive environments<\/em>, that turn the scene into an amorphous environment of perception and alteration, similar to those designed, for example, by Granular Synthesis and Edwin van Der Heide; a second aspect concerns the reinterpretation of the structural models of nature as a metaphysic dimension of the matter<\/em>, as for the perspective adopted by Ryoji Ikeda or Ryoichi Kurokawa; a third perspective examines the strategies to extend the visibility and audibility<\/em>, as for works by Herman Kolgen, Thomas McIntosh and Elio Martusciello, in which electronic devices are employed in order to \u201cvisualize\u201d a invisible and inaudible dimension of the real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n a) Performances and installations by Kurt Hentschlager and Ulf Langheinrich\u2019s Granular Synthesis collective have gradually become a paradigmatic model for immersive works. A work such <360><\/em> (2002), for example, is a spectacular audio-visual architecture that completely immerses the audience in a digital sound and video ambience \u2013 what the artist considers to be the electronic counterpart to a natural maelstrom. Originally conceived as a hybrid structure it combines material and immaterial components to create a new form of virtual theatre. This environment surrounds the audience with 12 screens of video projections perfectly synchronized with the soundtrack. By means of modulations of light, colour and sound, the entire ambience flickers and whirls: sometimes it creates a soothing space of meditation and sometimes a heightened sense of intense excitement. The sound is partly displaced by multiple numbers of small hidden loudspeakers, integrated with a battery of subwoofers that together produce a sound mass surrounding the spectator, and prevent him or her to recognize distinct sound events at localizable positions. In this immersive field, the perception of the human body is modified, and the result is a direct immersion into an electronic flux. Thanks to our perception, and to the subsequent process of analysis, we gradually combine events that at first have nothing to do with each other, except for the fact that we happen to sense them at the same moment in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n2. On perception<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
With the precious help of artists\u2019 interventions and contributions, one of the things this project aims to call into question is the profound qualities and the nature of the relationship between sound and image. In fact, in areas such as that of sound installations or video arts, a common misunderstanding arises when artists think they can create an artwork by simply mixing together image and sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n2. 1. Reconfiguration: the effects of immersive environment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n