In the organizer's words:

VISUAL MUSIC STUDIES 2026

Roger Fry first used the term "visual music" in 1912 in a text about the work of the painter, graphic artist and theorist Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky was a synaesthete, i.e. he saw colors and shapes simultaneously - in his mind's eye - while listening to music. Since 2009, the Institute for Music and Media (IMM) at the Robert Schumann University has been offering Visual Music as a major field of study. At the renowned Düsseldorf music academy, students learn to visualize their own compositions from concept to realization. All genres are open to them - from analog experimental film to generative, expansive media installations.

The works of Varvara Astafeva, Anna Zilinski, Calvin Hasselbring, Amadeus Hertel, Fritz Kasper, Alex Klein, Leo Möhle, Paula Ostermann and Ben Taler were created in 2025/26 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Heike Sperling, Marcus Schmickler, Leon Monschauer and Jan Höhe:

At home by Varvara Astafeva - installation, length: approx. 10 minutes
The installation Zuhause von Varvara Astafeva shows three windows: one for religion, one for prison and one for her childhood memories. Through these three perspectives, she reflects on how religion is used as an instrument of control and how its original core is lost - a religion that was once based on love and today often serves hate and injustice.
How have hundreds of years of repression shaped her home country? How does it feel when a large part of the culture is based on values that originated in the prison system - and where does that lead? And how much of it do you only really understand once you have left the country?
At the same time, Varvara Astafeva wonders how these two pillars of Russian society - religion and prison culture - are interwoven with her own memories of childhood. Is there something warm, something beautiful in all this? Or is there only pain in homesickness after all?

Light transmission by Calvin Hasselbring - light/sound installation
The installation Lichtgetriebe by Calvin Hasselbring seeks artistic expression in the direct analog translation of sound vibrations into patterns that can be experienced visually. Synthetic sounds generate both static and hypnotic dancing Lissajous projections by means of audio-reactive constructions of loudspeakers, membranes and lasers. The individual parts continuously condense into a musical and visual whole with an expansive, trance-like atmosphere.

Sequence by Amadeus Hertel - music video/experimental film, length: approx. 4 minutes
Sequence is an experimental music video by Amadeus Hertel, in which sound becomes moving fragments and visual impulses. Video loops are combined with simple, drawn stop-motion forms. The aim is a reduced but precise translation of sound into movement.

Artificial Memory by Fritz Kasper - music video, length: approx. 5 minutes
The experimental music video Artificial Memory by Fritz Kasper deals with the tension between reality and construction. Memories are created in our heads and change over time. Emotions, new perspectives and experiences distort the image and shape it into something new. Do we remember what it was really like? Artificial Memory invites us to question our memories and rediscover them as a changeable construction.

Cuor di Maria by Alexander Klein - performance, length: approx. 10 minutes
Cuor di Maria ("Watering Heart") is a live performance by Viola Cantú and Alexander Klein. The protagonist wakes up in an isolated, dystopian world and struggles with questions of identity and humanity. The performer's heartbeat, measured in real time via ECG sensors, determines both the live sound level and the visual projections. In this way, the character's inner journey is symbolized and forms the dramaturgical basis of the entire performance.

Synchronized Chaos by Leo Möhle - performance, length: approx. 5 minutes
The performance Synchronized Chaos by Leo Möhle deals with chance and the quest for control. Through the interaction of fog and a wafer-thin laser surface, the almost unpredictable turbulence in the air is made visible. After a short drumbeat, which sets the generative music and the fog in motion, it can be observed how sound and smoke develop uncontrollably into ever new patterns and sequences. Despite the common start, sound and fog take their own paths and get lost in endless possibilities.

Flare by Paula Milena Ostermann - installation, length: approx. 4 minutes
The installation Flare by Paula Milena Ostermann develops an immersive choreography about feminist self-empowerment. Through rhythmic movements, changing light landscapes and a growing sound structure, a collective awakening becomes physically tangible. Flare embodies voices that rise up and strengthen each other. The audience is at the center of this pulsating field in which vulnerability, courage, resistance and strength merge and cohesion is celebrated.

Resonance Survivors by Ben Taler - video game, length: max. 10 minutes
In the Survivors-like video game Resonance Survivors by Ben Taler, you face endless waves of enemies. Each weapon is an instrument and each attack is part of a growing composition. Gain experience, level up and choose your upgrades. With each new build you create your own soundtrack.

Robin Hood (of Vampires) by Anna Zilinski - Performance, length: approx. 4:30 minutes
The performance Robin Hood (of Vampires) by Anna Zilinski is a form of self-empowerment, accepting one's own well-deserved anger and letting it out relentlessly. The personal is political, and so individual anger is often an expression of structural injustices. The performance focuses on the accessibility of opportunities and resources - which doors in life open for which people, or even reveal themselves in the first place - as well as the resulting influences on the realities of life.
Above all, the question: Why does my anger make you angry?