The curiosity of the human mind is closely connected to synaesthesia, a neurological condition where one sense involuntarily triggers another. Humans naturally seek to translate experiences between senses in order to understand and share emotion. This desire is not purely aesthetic, but psychological. It reflects an attempt to make the invisible visible and to structure emotional perception in a way that can be communicated to others.
Even for people who do not experience synaesthesia in a clinical sense, cross-sensory associations are common. Sounds may feel sharp or soft, colours warm or cold, rhythms heavy or light. These intuitive translations form the conceptual basis of visual music and explain why the combination of sound and image can feel natural rather than artificial.
In the 1920s and 1930s, artists like Oskar Fischinger created hand-drawn and filmed animations that visualized musical compositions through rhythm, geometry and colour. Works such as An Optical Poem (1938) used motion as a visual equivalent to melody. Around the same time, early light-organ inventors like Thomas Wilfred explored similar ideas in installations such as the Clavilux.
These early works were created with extremely limited technical means, yet they established principles that remain relevant today: abstraction instead of illustration, rhythm instead of narrative, and movement as a carrier of emotion. Rather than depicting literal meanings, these artists focused on how music feels, setting a foundation for later audiovisual experimentation.
In the 1960s, these experiments expanded into live performances, laying the foundation for what is now referred to as visual music. Light shows accompanying psychedelic rock concerts translated sound into colour and motion in real time, making the audience an integral part of the experience. These performances emphasized immersion and collective perception rather than passive observation.
With the rise of digital tools in the 1990s and 2000s, VJing became more accessible and experimental. Software such as VDMX and Resolume allowed artists to manipulate visuals in real time, marking a shift from analog improvisation to hybrid design and performance practices.
This transition also changed the role of the visual artist. Visuals were no longer pre-produced and fixed, but could respond dynamically to sound, space and audience energy. The historical development from analog systems to digital tools shows a continuous desire to synchronize sound and image, not as decoration, but as a unified sensory language.
Sources:
Brougher, K., Strick, J., Wiseman, A., & Zilczer, J. (2005). Visual music: Synaesthesia in art and music since 1900. Thames & Hudson.
Brown, R. H. (2012). The spirit inside each object: John Cage, Oskar Fischinger, and “the future of music.” Journal of the Society for American Music, 6(1), 83–113.
Cytowic, R. E. (2002). Synesthesia: A union of the senses (2nd ed.). MIT Press.
Moritz, W. (2004). Optical poetry: The life and work of Oskar Fischinger. Indiana University Press.
