LYNN — Soundscape Visions, a group of artists in Lynn that combines visual and auditory art, held a sold-out art show at Galleries at LynnArts Friday evening. The show featured musical improvisation from Ara Sarkissian and Soundscape Visions founder Alexander Vavilov, as artwork was projected onto a wall.
“We will be creating these, what we call soundscapes, in the moment in response to the visual art,” Vavilov said.
The event featured video art by François-Xavier de Costerd, original artwork by Stephin Levin, live painting with Annette Sykes, art from current LynnArts exhibit “Green,” and artwork created by Ukrainian children in response to war.
Vavilov said the inspiration behind the event came from the pandemic, when artists were facing a lot of uncertainty.
“Nobody was sure if the music world, the art world would be the same ever again,” Vavilov said. “We started questioning how meaningful it really is, of what we do day-to-day in the performance world.”
He said he then realized that there may be something more meaningful and current for the audience and performers to reflect and express upon. Vavilov also wanted to explore “the natural evolution of what music might be and what visual art might be.”
“My mind went into the direction of seeing if there was a way to combine the visual arts and then what I do, which is music,” he said.
All of the different artists that were part of Friday evening’s show came together and created the program. They had their first performance in March 2022, but had to pause the project.
“The war in Ukraine, that’s when the war broke out and my family is in Ukraine,” Vavilov said. “That was a very difficult time and still is.”
Friday night’s program was their first performance back, he said. Before the event, he said he hopes there is an “exchange” between the audience and performers.
“It’s about there being an exchange that goes beyond words, that you cannot use the words for,” Vavilov said. “As we play, as we perform, we are attuned to the audience, we kind of get our cues from the audience.”
For the future, he hopes to see the project grow.
“We hope to build a following of people who are interested in this exploration in what we do. We would like to create a community that is interested in this kind of journey, and that would basically be something that will be vital for the project’s future and what it might look like,” Vavilov said. “It all depends on whether it resonates with people.”
The program is supported, in part, by a grant from Lynn Cultural Council.
