Visible Sounds, Auditory Images, Haptic Broadcasting: A Para-Tele-Visual Imaginary in German Modernism

This essay examines the avant-garde televisual experiments of the ‘G Group’ in relation to the sociotechnical imagination of experimental television in German modernism. Inspired by the physiology of synaesthesia and the possibilities of the ‘electric eye’, or photocell, avant-garde artists working...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Erik Born
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision 2025-08-01
Series:VIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture
Subjects:
Online Access:https://account.viewjournal.eu/index.php/up-j-viewjethc/article/view/352
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849393192478179328
author Erik Born
author_facet Erik Born
author_sort Erik Born
collection DOAJ
description This essay examines the avant-garde televisual experiments of the ‘G Group’ in relation to the sociotechnical imagination of experimental television in German modernism. Inspired by the physiology of synaesthesia and the possibilities of the ‘electric eye’, or photocell, avant-garde artists working in multiple media experimented with frequencies outside the perceptible spectrum in their attempts to convert light into sound and vice versa. By shifting attention from ‘visual music’ to ‘optical media,’ this essay contributes to avant-garde studies, modernism studies, and media archaeology, especially recent scholarship connecting the pre- and post-history of national television broadcasting. The ‘para-tele-visual’ here complements senses of television as distant vision with that of haptic broadcasting and the creation of visible sounds and auditory images.
format Article
id doaj-art-a5a00a553ef24d8dabd794801fd3daef
institution Kabale University
issn 2213-0969
language English
publishDate 2025-08-01
publisher Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision
record_format Article
series VIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture
spelling doaj-art-a5a00a553ef24d8dabd794801fd3daef2025-08-20T03:40:30ZengNetherlands Institute for Sound and VisionVIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture2213-09692025-08-011427223810.18146/view.352329Visible Sounds, Auditory Images, Haptic Broadcasting: A Para-Tele-Visual Imaginary in German ModernismErik Born0https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7782-9700Cornell UniversityThis essay examines the avant-garde televisual experiments of the ‘G Group’ in relation to the sociotechnical imagination of experimental television in German modernism. Inspired by the physiology of synaesthesia and the possibilities of the ‘electric eye’, or photocell, avant-garde artists working in multiple media experimented with frequencies outside the perceptible spectrum in their attempts to convert light into sound and vice versa. By shifting attention from ‘visual music’ to ‘optical media,’ this essay contributes to avant-garde studies, modernism studies, and media archaeology, especially recent scholarship connecting the pre- and post-history of national television broadcasting. The ‘para-tele-visual’ here complements senses of television as distant vision with that of haptic broadcasting and the creation of visible sounds and auditory images.https://account.viewjournal.eu/index.php/up-j-viewjethc/article/view/352electrophysiologyg groupoptophoneparatelevisualsonificationsynaesthesiavisual music
spellingShingle Erik Born
Visible Sounds, Auditory Images, Haptic Broadcasting: A Para-Tele-Visual Imaginary in German Modernism
VIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture
electrophysiology
g group
optophone
paratelevisual
sonification
synaesthesia
visual music
title Visible Sounds, Auditory Images, Haptic Broadcasting: A Para-Tele-Visual Imaginary in German Modernism
title_full Visible Sounds, Auditory Images, Haptic Broadcasting: A Para-Tele-Visual Imaginary in German Modernism
title_fullStr Visible Sounds, Auditory Images, Haptic Broadcasting: A Para-Tele-Visual Imaginary in German Modernism
title_full_unstemmed Visible Sounds, Auditory Images, Haptic Broadcasting: A Para-Tele-Visual Imaginary in German Modernism
title_short Visible Sounds, Auditory Images, Haptic Broadcasting: A Para-Tele-Visual Imaginary in German Modernism
title_sort visible sounds auditory images haptic broadcasting a para tele visual imaginary in german modernism
topic electrophysiology
g group
optophone
paratelevisual
sonification
synaesthesia
visual music
url https://account.viewjournal.eu/index.php/up-j-viewjethc/article/view/352
work_keys_str_mv AT erikborn visiblesoundsauditoryimageshapticbroadcastingaparatelevisualimaginaryingermanmodernism