Early twentieth-century pioneers in abstract multimedia such as Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Eisenstein, Oskar Fischinger, and Walther Ruttmann sought to model the interaction of audiovisual elements on musical counterpoint. Although the impulse toward counterpoint is well-documented and persists among multimedia artists to this day, few scholars agree on what constitutes multimedia counterpoint and some have even questioned whether audiovisual works can be contrapuntal. My talk suggests a new understanding of multimedia counterpoint based on historical sources and extends the metaphor to cover specific types of audiovisual interactions. I conclude that, like musical counterpoint, the idea of multimedia counterpoint is most useful when it is used to describe degrees of similarity and difference rather than absolute states of parallelism and contrast.

Anna Gawboy is an associate professor of music theory at the Ohio State University School of Music. Her research explores the intersection of music theory, cultural history, musical performance, and multimedia. This interdisciplinary orientation has allowed her work to find audiences in a variety of contexts including Slavic studies, religious studies, film studies, art history, and theater/performance studies. As coordinator of the first-year music theory curriculum at Ohio State, she engages pedagogies of digital media in both her teaching and scholarship.