I recently visited the Finnish National Opera. On programme there was Doctor Atomic by the contemporary composer John Adams. I greatly enjoyed the high-quality, minimalistic music and the strong libretto with lots of meaningful messages and ethically serious topics. This kind of opera makes you seriously think and contemplate. To cite Opera’s information pages:

“The contemporary opera Doctor Atomic transports us back to July 15, 1945, when preparations for the first test of an atomic bomb are underway. Scientists aren’t quite sure what will happen – only one things is certain: the world will never be the same again.”

In my opinion Doctor Atomic made a great evening with strong emotions, deep thoughts and sublime horizons! Inspiring music, actors, the decor and general set-up in an outstanding opera house in Helsinki (with some great architecture both inside and out) create an art spectacle and a sort of “artificial” or “virtual” reality. It seems an opera experience can also and obviously be a fantastic spectacle from service and design points of view.

The classic Gesamtkunstwerk approach (i.e. a total art work) by composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883) comes to my mind and is worth mentioning here: the idea of a massive work of art that combines and shakes different human senses. In a way this classical Wagnerian approach to opera art resembles also super effects, multimediality and synesthesia in the context of today’s audiovisual media culture. In addition to Wagner, the remarkable Russian composer of Romanticism Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915) should be mentioned here – especially his works at the beginning of the 20^th century expressing synesthesia and mysticism.

Synesthesia, multimodality and hypertextuality are a relevant field of study, for example, in the context of music videos and computer games, which are a seminal part of today’s popular culture. It can be said that the most important feature of a music video is often the link it activates between the senses: making sound visual, and movement and colour audible.

In fact, there are several reasons for calling music videos imagined music. The director and writer of a video creates powerful and enjoyable sensory experiences. He/she illustrates the musical piece with synesthetic associations and creates with his/her creative mind new forms of audiovisual combinations.

We can now say that the best and most ambitious music videos have represented the aesthetic avant-garde of the last decades. Synesthesia explains a lot about the enjoyability of music videos and other forms of audiovisual media culture. It can be said that the visual pleasure of music videos is not so much connected with narrativity as with making television (or a computer screen) more musical.

Quo vadis, audiovisual culture? And what can we learn from the classics? Some of the most notable renewers of audiovisual media culture in the 20^th century have been Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein (1898–1948) and French film director Jean-Luc Godard (1930–). Their thinking and audiovisual works also contain relevant elements regarding synesthesia and a sort of “total experience.” Some other relevant names of significant avant-gardists and innovators include Abel Gance (1889–1981), Walther Ruttmann (1887–1941), Len Lye (1901–1980), Oskar Fischinger (1900–1967), Kenneth Anger (1930–) and Walt Disney (1901–1966).

Literature:

Inkinen, Sam (2004). Cross-Media Age. Aspects of Media Cultural Trends and Digital Technologies. In: Korpiaho, Mervi & Korhonen, Mikko et al., Multi-Channel Solutions. Helsinki: IT Press.

Inkinen, Sam (2008). Quo vadis, homo ludens? (preface). In: Fernandez, A. & Leino, O. & Wirman, H. (eds.), Extending Experiences. Rovaniemi: Lapin yliopistokustannus, pp. 9–17.

Ylä-Kotola, Mauri & Inkinen, Sam & Isomäki, Hannakaisa (eds.) (2005). The Integrated Media Machine. Aspects of Future Interfaces and Cross-Media Culture (volumes 3–4). Rovaniemi: University of Lapland.