Unravelling the Visiophonic Knot: Audiovisual Incongruence and Perceptual Glitch in Intermedial Performance

This article examines the convergence and divergence of sound and image in intermedial performance. Intermedial performance has the capacity to deconstruct perceptual integration by presenting sound and image via different media modalities. This article draws on perspectives within film and audiovisual studies in theorising incongruity and develops the notion of ‘perceptual incongruity’. The concept of ‘perceptual glitch’ is offered for application to those moments in which audiovisual stimuli simply “do not compute” (Leszczynski and Elwood). Finally, the article argues that perceptual incongruency and the intentional divergence of audio and visual media in intermedial performance, when recognised within a postdigital framework, can challenge dominant narratives of convergence and totality in the design and analysis of digital and aesthetic experience.