# Nonexistent Artforms and the Case of Visual Music **Opening (not a real abstract):** Nonexistent Artforms and the Case of Visual Music There is a difference between the realm of art as a whole, however we characterize that, and the class of all artforms that exist, or have existed, at a given point in time. That difference, seen from one angle, is the class of nonexistent but possible artforms. This chapter will be devoted at the outset to exploring this latter class. My tools, however, will be merely those of a philosopher, not a soothsayer. The problem concerning nonexistent artforms of perhaps greatest interest is why certain theoretically possible ones have not been essayed, or else have not proven successful even if essayed to some extent. Examples of nonexistent artforms, by at least the second of these tests, are kinetic painting, wordless song, danced poetry, olfactory art, and visual music. One reason this **Authors:** [[Levinson]]