Five terms — visual music, expanded cinema, live cinema, VJing, and live AV performance — divide the audiovisual-performance field

The audiovisual-performance field is organized by five overlapping concepts: visual music (abstract sound-image composition), expanded cinema (cinema beyond the apparatus), live cinema (cinematographic conventions performed live), VJing (real-time visual mixing alongside DJs), and live audiovisual performance (an umbrella for all). Each addresses a different angle of contemporary AV production with its own history and community. The five cannot be cleanly separated — they are ‘players on the same grounds’ and can only be defined in relation to each other. Knowing which label applies to a given practice helps artists situate their work, helps festivals program events, and gives academics shared vocabulary. The common thread is that all five involve liveness, intermediality, performativity, and cinematicity.

Examples

A performer mixing pre-recorded loops over a DJ set = VJing. A solo artist creating abstract moving images synchronized to their own live electronics = live AV performance or visual music. A multi-screen immersive screening that audiences watch seated = live cinema. A mixed-media installation using projected film equipment in non-standard ways = expanded cinema.

Assessment

Given a brief description of an audiovisual performance (context, collaboration structure, narrative presence, audience arrangement), assign it to one or more of the five categories and justify the distinction.