Steina Vasulka, trained as a musician, and Woody Vasulka, who studied documentary filmmaking at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, began experimenting with video in 1969. After settling in New York in 1965, they founded The Kitchen—one of the first institutions in the United States dedicated to video and performance art—in 1971.

In the fall of 1973, the two artists moved to Buffalo to teach video at the Center for Media Study at the State University of New York, where they furthered their investigation into video grammar. Soundsize emerged from their research at the time into the interplay between sound and image. Created using the Rutt/Etra Scan Processor—a 1973 video synthesizer developed by engineer Steve Rutt and video artist Bill Etra—the video translates sound signals into visual displays. Since both sound and image are composed of electronic waves, this device allowed the two to interact directly.

In Soundsize, a parallelepiped pattern of dots is modulated by synthesizer-generated sounds, shifting in a flickering play of size and shape. The artists render visible both the repetitive electronic sounds and the waveforms of the video signal, revealing the wavelike essence of video technology itself. By manipulating these fundamental elements—sound and image—they expose the underlying structures of the medium.

The Vasulkas continued their exploration into the relationship between sound and image, both collaboratively and individually. This ongoing research is reflected in works such as Woody Vasulka’s 1974 video Explanation and Steina Vasulka’s 1978 interactive performance Violin Power.

Marie Vicet, 2025
Translated by Laurie Hurwitz