Modern media, particularly media that explores the previously-discussed concept of modularity is predominately an audio-visual art form which blends various mediums into a single coherent product. However, there is another art form that is commonly dismissed as simply being a single-sensory medium, that being music. While music at its fundamental level has been traditionally an audio-only medium, music visuals have become an increasingly prevalent part of the success of modern artists. Live music incorporates lightshows and projections, performers are judged by their visual presence on stage and many artists, such as Grimes, FKA Twigs, Blank Banshee and Slow Magic, have their own, very distinctive aesthetics that have become as much a part of the musician as their actual music has. However, likely the most obvious example of visuals in music that almost every artist has in common is the album artwork. In most cases, the artwork creates our very first impression of an album, as we begin to make assumptions and predictions on the upcoming music before it has even begun; Death Grips’ The Money Store is gritty and experimental, Odesza’s A Moment Apart is dreamy and ethereal, and XXXTentacion’s “?” provides a great insight into the general cluelessness of the artist and the apparent ignorance he has for his blatant lack of musical talent.
Therefore, we have decided to explore this regularly overlooked artform as a completely independent entity in our project, in which we will re-enact various album covers in a video format. This will respond to the idea of modularity not only by collating these videos into a single interactive project, but also by recreating the non-modular medium of an album cover in a more modern, modular fashion. At this time, we haven’t explored much beyond this theme, so the next step is to set constraints for ourselves and focus on how we want to present it as a final project.