I EMAILED JAMIE
WARD OF THE UK SYNAESTHESIA ASSOCIATION
03 JANUARY 2006
After yet another synaesthesia google i discovered that the UK Synaesthesia Association was having its annual meeting and conference in London in April 2006. Wishing to participate, but not sure if it would be appropriate to propose a paper I emailed the organizer, Dr. Jamie Ward.
Subject: Uk Synaesthesia Association Annual Meeting
Date: January 3, 2006
Dear Jamie Ward,
I am emailing you because I am interested in attending the Annual Meeting
of the UK Synaesthesia Association.I am currently employed at the Norwegian
Theatre Academy as a fellowess of the Norwegian Programme for Research fellowships
in the Arts (a practice-based phd equivalent for artists here in Norway).
The title of my project is "Mind, the gap. Synaesthesia and contemporary
live art practice".
My project website can be found here:
http://www.notam02.no/motherboard/synaesthesia/
One thing that I have been wondering about is whether or not it would be appropriate
for me to submit an abstract for oral presentation. But I wanted to check
out papers that have previously been submitted to see if I could contribute
anything of relevance to your meeting. To find out more about the meeting
I (other than the information/attendance submission form) given on the pdf
have tried to access the Association's website at www.uksynaesthesia.com,
but the address doesn't seem to work.
Basically, I am not an expert in synaesthesia, but an artist who believes
that synaesthetic influences have a lot to answer for in both the creation
and perception of artworks, and that they are highly subjective.
My background is as a choreographer. While I hold two diplomas (from London
College of Dance and Drama and from the dance department of what is now called
Oslo National Academy of the Arts respectively) I consider my role as someone
who creates structures for movement to occur in - whatever the media. Since
completing my education I have acted as co-director of the Oslo-based art
group called Motherboard, where we have created and produced interdisciplinary
performance events, installations, worklabs, etc that have often utilized
the internet as one platform for artistic exchange - a mediating and modulating
instance in live art, if you like. I first became familiar with the term "synaesthesia"
in 1999 when I started to work with a networking software called keyworx,
developed by the WAAG in Amsterdam. Keyworx is based on the synaesthetic notion
that any media that can be digitized can be used to control and manipulate
any other media on both a local and global network. Through working with keyworx
it became apparent to me that my colleagues and myself often made certain
choices about media mappings that somehow reflected their artistic preferences,
expressions and responses. They had signatures of sensory preferences. Working
together a multitude of media in a low-bandwidth mode, I perceived responses
as often being direct, emotional responses to colour, sound, etc. To talk
about emotions in art is not hip at the moment!
My current project is based in art practice where I am creating a tool, which
I call The Emotion Organ. I have restored, and am currently rebuilding a pump
organ/parlour organ from 1895 via a process of physical computing such that,
when played, it will release a synergy of sensory information - original acoustic
sound which is also modified to produce electronic sound, aromas, projected
imagery, theatre smoke, kinetic elements, and lights. I have chosen to modify
a musical instrument rather than building my own original interface because
the majority of work regarding art and synaesthesia has ocurred in the audio-visual
field - colour music, and historically with ocular organs, etc. (I love the
Ocular Harpsichord of Loius Betrand Castel from the 1700's, and the ideas
it generated in arts, philosophy and science). I wanted a start point that
initially seems to be based in the field of music, but is designed and developed
by myself - from a background in dance. Additionally with an interface of
an archaic instrument I intend to draw a bold line from the early 19th century
to the current day, and perhaps beyond - something nostalgically futuristic.
So as well as functioning as a research tool, the organ should also be an
art object in its own right. Additions such as airbrush guns that are generally
used for painting, release aromas, and phonograph horns pump out theatre smoke
as well as sound, fans disperse aromas and become an invisible surface for
projected imagery - so the synaesthetic notion is also informing the physical
character of the organ.
While I am developing the organ (a process that takes a long time!) I have
been using the knowledge gained in the process to influence my participation
in other collaborative artworks. For example, a project that explores the
practical and conceptual implications of building an underwater sculpture
whose true form is manifested as an image on an echo-sounder display. (Sound
simultaneously creates image). This sculpture, called "The 8th Sister,
an exercise into the depths of Freudian perception" was sunk in an archipelago
community, 50 km off the coast of North Norway on the Arctic Circle in July
2005.
I complete my fellowship project at the end of 2006 where I will present The
Emotion Organ publicly. While I can envisage that this instrument can eventually
be adapted and presented in many contexts (as a participational installation
in a gallery , as a teaching tool, etc, etc, ) for my presentation I have
to restrict the options and have decided that I will commission people (not
necessarily musicians) to make compositions specifically for it, in a staged,
intimate concert setting. This is in keeping with one of my main research
interests which is how do synaesthetic connections influence that way a performer
performs - and I also understand that synaesthesia occurs in peri-personal
space. (So a public should also be close to the performer.)
I also understand from my research that it is appropriate to differentiate
between true synaesthesia and elicited/synthesized synaesthesia (I feel that
the only way I could really provide people with something verging on a true
synaesthestic experience would be to give them lsd!), which is why I include
both "acoustic" and synthesized media in my instrument. Aromas,
for example, are chemical aromas, rather than natural. (Possibly I should
used the term syn-aesthetics).
As you will probably have gathered, I have many unanswered question with regards
to my project and would therefore like the opportunity to attend your meeting.
But my question to you is whether or not you think anything of the above would
be relevant to present in as an oral presentation, or whether I should just
come and gain as much information as possible from the experience.
I would be delighted for some feedback from you,
kindest regards,
amanda steggell
... and Jamie replied:
Dear Amanda,
Thanks for your email and for telling me about your very interesting work.
The website is temporarily down but will be restored by the end of the week.
We welcome talks on art as well as science although last years conference
was more science based (see attached). I know that this year there will be
a talk by an animator who is at the interface of art and science. Would you
talk about the colour organ or something else? If you didn't want to give
a 30 minute presentation (20 mins talk, 10 mins question) then I could arrange
something shorter (e.g. 15 mins talk, 5 mins discussion). Either way I hope
you will be able to come.
Best wishes
Jamie
... so I wrote the following:
Dear Jamie,
Below is an abstract/introduction to my talk.
Please let me know if you need more (or less:-) information,
with best wishes,
Amanda
Mind, the gap. Synaesthesia and contemporary live art practice.
For several centuries artists have been inspired by the phenomenon of synaesthesia
and the potential of experiencing a dimension where everything is brought
together - where each sense exists so closely to another that it seems to
become the other.
With the advent of digital and communications technologies, digital devices
that translate one media to another can now mimic synaesthesia. The most exposed
practice regarding live art and synaesthesia today is the generation of dynamic
visual imagery derived from the digitized properties of sound, and less focus
is given to other sensory cross-wirings. Such practices often adhere to the
pursuit of formal sensory correlations reminiscent of activities of the late
19th century - a far cry from the 1960's when experiments with psychedlic
drugs induced temporal synaesthetic experiences, and the search was on for
a radically new way of perceiving the world. This leads me to ask, has the
nurturing of digital devices with synaesthetic capabilities opened the way
for new forms of art, communication and perceptions of the world (as some
advertising companies would have me believe)? If, according to neurologist
Richard Cytowic, synaesthesia "is something that all of us have, but
only reaches consciousness in a minority of people", can artworks that
apply synaesthetic strategies awaken that consciousness in those of us who
have lost our synaesthetic abilities along the way? Is it possible to evoke,
even for a moment, an experience comparable to real synaesthesia, a gesamtkunstwerk
of emotional impact and perceptual transcendence - without using psychedelic
drugs?
These are just some of the questions I am attempting to expose through my
practice-based arts research project Mind, the gap. To address these questions
I am constructing an instrument called The Emotion Organ, which, when played,
will release a cacophony of sensory information. During my talk I will describe
the process of constructing this instrument, the ideas that are generated
from the process, and the pitfalls and paradoxes I encounter along the way.
... and then received:
Dear Speaker,
Please find attached a provisional programme for the meeting of the UK Synaesthesia
Association to be held in London on 22-23 April 2006. It looks like a great
line-up of speakers and a diverse range of talks.
I look forward to seeing you all in April.
Best wishes
Jamie
... and the program looks great! Check out the link below .....
LINKS AND REFERENCES
UK Synaesthesia Association, Annual Meeting:
http://www.uksynaesthesia.com/agm.htm