Sound, Vision, and the Spatial Imagination

From the resonant acoustics of sacred spaces to the immersive soundscapes of film and digital art, art, architecture and visual culture can connect with, challenge, support or subvert the sonic dimensions of space and experience. Drawing inspiration from scholars such as Bissera Pentcheva (Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space, and Spirit in Byzantium, 2017) and Brandon LaBelle (Acoustic Territories: Sound Culture and Everyday Life, 2010), this panel investigates how audiovisual interplay can shape our perception and experience of space, whether physical, social, or psychological. We seek papers exploring the varieties of meanings that sonic and visual modalities can co-produce. Topics might include (but are not limited to): music, performance and soundscapes within gallery and museum contexts; stage and scenographic design in live performances; architectures of listening and performance and their cultural politics; soundscapes and visuality in urban, rural or digital environments; the multisensorial or synaesthetic dimensions of works of art and architecture, and depictions of music-making and/or sonic responses.

The panel seeks to enable cross-cultural and transhistorical dialogues between art historians working on sound and image relations across different geographical areas and time periods. It welcomes proposals from diverse historical and cultural contexts, particularly topics that engage with questions of race, gender, politics, religion, diasporas, or technology. 

This half-day panel will allow time for four presentations of 20 minutes, followed by a panel discussion.

Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:

Dr Rachel Coombes, Heong Gallery, Downing College/Faculty of Music and Cambridge Digital Humanities, rc968@cam.ac.uk

Dr Onur Engin, University of Cambridge/Department of History of Art, oe239@cam.ac.uk

Dr Laura Slater, University of Cambridge, lss33@cam.ac.uk