Sound artists Olivier Pasquet and Gilbert Nouno from France's Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM) gave a lecture, "Digital Compositions and Audio Visual," at TNUA's Center for Art and Technology (CAT) on December 13.

IRCAM, as one of the world’s biggest public research centers dedicated to musical creation and scientific research, is a venue where artists, composers and technology developers collaborate to explore the possibilities of music. 

The two sound artists, one of whom is a mathematician and the other a computer programmer, have been exploring the possibilities of converging music and technology and their interaction with dance and visual arts.

The two speakers showed three works during their lecture. One of them reflects on the infinite universe and the fact human thinking is constantly constructed and reconstructed by social influences. 

Another piece features symphonic music with delayed images to allow viewers to visualize music. Mr. Pasquet said the convergence of computer programming and artistic creation demonstrates the relationships between space and field.

The third piece, inspired by a German physicist who lived three centuries ago, features salt on a vibrating metal sheet. Mr. Nouno said life is trapped by digital technology and this piece is meant to reflect on the relationships between man and machine. 

In a question-and-answer session, the two artists answered students' questions concerning the difference between artistic creation and scientific experiments.