Visual Music presents an alternative chronology of art in the 20th century, highlighting the rich relationship between abstraction, color, and sound in painting, experimental film, and installation art during that time. Centering on the concept of synaesthesia—a synthesis of the senses and, by extension, of the arts—the exhibition traces artistic manifestations of the idea from abstract paintings interpreting music; through color organs and films visualizing sound; into contemporary installation art that engages the body itself. Artists in the exhibition include Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Oskar Fischinger, Charles Dockum, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Len Lye, Harry Smith, Cindy Bernard, Jennifer Steinkamp, and others.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue.
Visual Music is organized by Kerry Brougher, Jeremy Strick, Ari Wiseman and Judith K. Zilczer, co-organized by MOCA and the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC.