Anthony Pirog & Henry Kaiser - Figure/Ground Electric Guitar Duos (2022)

Figure/ground organisation is a type of perpetual grouping that is a vital necessity for recognition objects through vision. In Gestalt psychology it is known as identifying a figure from the background.

Figure/ground perception can be expanded from visiual perception to include non-visual concepts such as melody/harmony, subject/background and positive/negative space.

The concept of figure and ground fully depends on the observer and not on the item itself. In the typical sonic scenarios people encounter auditory figure and ground signals after overlap in time as well as in frequency content.

In these situations, auditory objects are established by integrating sound components over time, timbre, space, and frequency.