Sound and Light: La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela

La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela have been pursuing their art for more than three decades. Together, they have created large-scale works for light and sound of many hours duration—full of slow-moving microtonal sounds bathed in magenta hues and shadows—that have influenced styles as diverse as the Velvet Underground and Minimalism. Yet many people outside the experimental circles in music and art are unfamiliar with their work. This issue of the Bucknell Review is the first full-length book on their work. It introduces Young and Zazeela to those unfamiliar with them, as well as provides the more acquainted reader with new and useful insights and analyses of the fundamental issues in their life and work. The book explores the recurring themes that have influenced and organized Young and Zazeela's ongoing engagement with sound and light. These themes include the appreciation of nature and its natural shapes and sounds; the importance of mathematics and organized tuning systems based on natural harmonics; enhanced attention spans and increased sensitivity to differences within apparent sameness; extensions of time, and alterations of space.