About Synesthesia

Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which the stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway (for example, hearing) leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway (such as vision)

– Google’s 1st search result

Synesthesia is one of my favorite subjects personally, both aesthetically and intellectually. Also it’s a trendy theme in the burner art-nightlife culture.

Previous Work

For the Synesthesia assignment I’d like to revisit a former work of mine: a Blacklight-reactive acrylic artwork I painted and presented in 2018.

The subject of the one painting I like to focus on, as one can easily see, is visual stimulation. It’s synesthetic in it’s definition.

Looking at this painting in different environments in the light of different sources brought a newfound interest in Ultra Violet light / blacklight reactive surfaces and light sources. I discovered Blacklight reactive features in a usual projector light and used it while presenting my existing art. I’d like to explore it further, deeper and more intentionally.

Original Light Art Proposition

For the next iteration of this work, I would like to create a audio-visual-touch environment.

I’d like to create a new iteration of the painting, 4x larger in size. The application should be more geometric in form, and possibly not completely flat. Ideally it would be somewhat tactile. I would like to paint it in a new, interesting combination of regular and blacklight reactive colors.

Then, I’d like to create a projection mapping for it. The projection mapping will be sound-reactive, and will make the static artwork look like it’s moving, glowing and dancing to the music. I would like to use software I’m familiar with, Madmapper and Isadora, and possibly experiment with new software all the cool kids are talking about, such as touch designer and VDMX.

For a last step, that I might not accomplish (hopefully I will), I’d like to connect the projection mapping into the VJ god midi interface and let the audience play with some parameters of the projection.

The goal is to push the boundaries of multi-sensory stimulation with the purpose of inducing an intense outer-worldly, euphoric, meditative, semi-hallucinogenic state of mind.