I read Artist-Musicians, Musician-Artists and I like how it traces something that feels obvious now but apparently took a century to become normal.
I think the part that resonates most with me is the computer era section. When techno and house came along, the machine just didnot care what you were. You could make music, make visuals, run a label and design the artwork all from the same tool. The software doesn’t ask if you’re a musician or a visual artist. You just open it and start.
The article goes through all these earlier movements like Fluxus, punk, the Factory scene and they are interesting, they feel like people consciously pushing against something, making a statement by crossing disciplines. What I find more compelling is when it stops being a statement and just becomes how you work. The computer made that possible in a way nothing before really did.
I think that’s where we are now. Nobody finds it strange if someone makes music and visuals together. The article frames it like a long historical liberation, but honestly from where I’m standing it just feels like the obvious way to work and I’m not sure we even notice it anymore, which is kind of the point.