Visual Music in the planetariums of Latin American and the Caribbean region

The planetariums in the Latin American and the Caribbean region have a story to tell. Initially, the region consists of 35 countries with enormous geographical diversity, surface heterogeneity, and variety in population and socioeconomic characteristics; it has a rich cultural variety and different degrees of development (Ortíz et al. 2003). In this context, the construction of planetariums began in 1955 in Uruguay; subsequently, they spread to Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina, and Colombia. Since then, new planetariums have been built in the region. The main focus of planetariums is astronomical education, but they also present shows in the arts and humanities. Among the shows are visual music concerts, with the goal of attracting new audiences to get to know the planetarium and encouraging them to attend its educational activities. However, visual music presentations have not always shared the same objectives, due to the variety of interests that each planetarium may have. This article presents the origin of visual music and its development in Latin America and the Caribbean.