Glossary

Multimedia art combines traditional visual art with technological and time-based media, a sculpture with video projected onto it, paired with a soundscape playing underneath, for example. The different media sit alongside each other, each staying identifiable on its own, but reinforcing and amplifying the others.

Because video and audio components run on fixed durations or loops, a multimedia work changes over time and the viewer has to spend time with it to take in the whole piece. Many contemporary multimedia works go a step further and add interactivity, letting the audience control the media through a button, movement, or even voice. Today multimedia approaches are so common that nearly every contemporary artist uses them in some capacity.