Michael Nicholson Visual Music Project Stage 3 Op.2 (2008)

Described by the artist as “the first example of a fully mature musical form addressing the human eye rather than the human ear”, The Visual Music Project Ops 1-4 is a digital video work inspired by the the German/Russian artistic group Der Blaue Reiter (whose members included Paul Klee, Franz Marc, Wassily Kandinski).

The original raw material was made by Nicholson in 1977 in Australia, using a Scanimate Video Synthesizer interfaced with a computer. Edited and exhibited as a multi-channel video installation, it was subsequently re-edited in 2008 with the assistance of Diane McAllen and exhibited at the New Zealand Film Archive as The Visual Music Project Stage 3 Ops 1-4.

"A copy of the complete original work, released in Wellington (2008), that asserts itself as the first example of a fully mature musical form addressing the human eye rather than the human ear. Tracing origins back to the German / Russian Blaue Reiter group (Klee, Miro, Kandinski) who thought of their work as 'visual music' at the beginning of the last century (1898-1910). These four pieces are the outcome of the artists long pedigree of engagement with finding-out-by-doing projects in his studio and around the landscape and his collaboration with video synthesizer and computer operators in their work places.
Sound optional but recommend play silent, since the work is for the eye, not the ear."

Michael Nicholson

Credits & notes

Project oversight and composition: Michael Nicholson.
Assembly (2008): Diane McAllen.

Source material derived from The Michael Nicholson Studio original works VIDEOPS RED & GREEN (197-) and MN/ACVPS/151179 VIDEO PRIMARY STRUCTURES (1980).

Source material produced with the video resources of The Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education, Australia; and the Scanimate Video Synthesizer with Brian Hicks, Image East.

Sponsored by The Creative Development Branch of the Australian Film Commission. Processed by Video Lab & Kiwi Films.

Video restoration and preservation by The New Zealand Film Archive Ngā Kaitiaki ō ngā Taonga Whitiāhua (2008).

Recycled soundtracks: John Geake at the controls of the Roland SH5.