Audio-Visualism: Reframing Relationships Between Sound & Image (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)

Audio-Visualism follows on from Live Visuals: History, Theory, Practice, which covered a broad history of live visual and audio-visual practice.

This volume covers the contemporary audio-visual world in greater detail, focusing on the works of artists who work in the interstices between sound, video, light, immersion, virtuality, and social engagement. This book establishes how the relationship between sound and image continues to be a dominant theme in the 21st century. With contributions by scholars, researchers, and active practitioners, this collection demonstrates the knowledge spectrum of Audio-Visualism as a movement, a practice, a research field, and a philosophy.

This volume will appeal to a diverse audience, including scholars, students, creative practitioners, and professionals in fields such as audio-visual performance, media art, interactive media, VJing, and music technology. The practical sections of the book offer valuable insights that are highly relevant to contemporary audio-visual creation.

Steve Gibson is an audio-visual performer and Associate Professor at Northumbria University. He has presented at many world-leading venues including ISEA2025 Seoul, 404 Festival Mexico City, and Cabaret Voltaire.

Yan Breuleux is a Full Professor at NAD-UQAC. His research-creation practice focuses on visual music for fulldome environments, examining the interplay between narrativity, sensoriality, and immersion in audio-visual practices.

Joseph Hyde’s work incorporates a wide variety of influences in live electronics, audio-visuals, and immersion. He is Emeritus Professor at Bath Spa University and is currently working for HVN Labs, developing next-generation drone light shows. josephhyde.co.uk

Donna Leishman is a media artist, researcher, and Associate Professor of Visual Communication and Digital Cultures at Northumbria University. Her practice explores the ethics and politics of our ongoing participation with digital spaces and art forms and the social implications of this relationship.