AudioVision in the Middle Ages: Sainte-Foy at Conques

Bissera V. Pentcheva, Stanford University 

This talk explores the new interpretive model for the analysis of medieval art developed by the interdisciplinary project “EnChanted Images” that I direct at Stanford University. What is unique about this research is that it recognizes that medieval images were experienced in the flow of chant, prayer and recitation, and that music changes the perception of the visual and vice versa, the image inflects the sound. AudioVision, a term coined by the film scholar and composer, Michel Chion, opens the gateway to this innovative and unique engagement with medieval art. I have created multimedia assets that give contemporary audiences access to medieval AudioVision. In this talk I will also address the different inspirational collaborations with media artists, sculptors, and cinematographers spreading across the gamut from undergraduate and graduate students to professionals. Many of these synergies grew out of our rich and talented community of the Art and Art History Department. The results of this multiple collaborations are the exhibition AudioVision in the Middle Ages: Sainte-Foy at Conques at the Stanford Art Gallery, the documentary film Seeing Through Chant, and the Auralizing the Medieval Image concert at Bing Hall.  

Image: Susana Barron