Synaesthesia. Discussing
a Phenomenon in the Arts, Humanities and (Neuro-)Science
5/
6 July, 2013
at
Theater Glaskasten, Prinzenallee 33, Berlin-Wedding
As
a theoretical addition to our exhibition series SYNAESTHESIA (October
2012 - July 2013), Art Laboratory Berlin held an international interdisciplinary
conference to further explore and theoretically question the field
of multisensory perception.
The
term "synaesthesia", from the Greek "aisthesis"
("Sensation", "sensory impression") and "syn"
("together") means the experience of two or more sensory
impressions at the same time. Currently there is a strikingly strong
interest in the coupling of the senses in science, humanities and
in contemporary art. This should come as no surprise: Our daily
life in recent years has been subject to ever more multimedia and
multisensory experiences. Comparing the latest technologies in the
field of communication we come upon the radical technological development
during the last 25 years: music video (text, music, colour), computer
(as "total" sensory object) and also newest multiple forms
of mobile phones (not only used for calls, but as a photo camera,
music player or text machine, etc.).
It
is the aim of Art Laboratory Berlin to grasp the specific impulses
of our current complex, synchronous and technologised society on
the phenomenon of synaesthesia, with its distinctive form
of sensory fluctuation. For the conference, we were interested in
discussing issues from diverse scholarly fields - humanities, arts
as well as natural and social sciences - regarding both historical
positions and contemporary inquiries. Topics included: synaesthesia
and the neurological discourse (memory and cognition; sensory perception);
synaesthesia - between perception and subjectivity; synaesthesia
and language; synaesthetic modalities (grapheme synaesthesia; synaesthesia
of smell, taste, touch, sound and vision); synaesthesia in art and
cultural history (in visual art, literature and film); synaesthesia
and the digital world (synaesthesia in the 21st century).
Conference
Concept: Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz, Art Laboratory Berlin
Realisation of Conference: The Art Laboratory Berlin Team: Regine
Rapp, Christian de Lutz, Olga
Shmakova, Chiara Cartuccia, Chiara Massari, Anastasia Shavlokhova,
Ashley Chang
Post-production & Film Editing: Eirini Kokkinidou, Christian
de Lutz
CONFERENCE_PROGRAM
and documentation (excerpts) Friday, 5
July, 2013
The exhibition "Translating, Correcting, Archiving"
will be open from 9AM-8PM.
9:30:
Registration
10:00 Regine Rapp, Christian de Lutz (Art Laboratory Berlin) Welcome and Introduction
Keynote
/ Moderator: Regine Rapp Hinderk M. Emrich (Director of the Center for Psychological Medicine,
Hannover) Synaesthesia, Synaisthesis and the Enhancement of Coherence
Ditte
Lyngkær Pedersen (Artist, Århus) Why is Green a Red Word?
Sina
A. Trautmann-Lengsfeld (Dept. of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology,
University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg) Multisensory Processing in Synaesthesia
13:45
// LUNCH BREAK
14:45 Translating Synaesthesia // Moderator: Christian de Lutz
Polina
Dimova (Institute for Russian and Comparative Literature, Oberlin
College, Ohio) Synaesthesia at the Fin-de-Siècle: Art and Science
Eva-Maria
Bolz (Artist, Berlin) Der Innere Monitor
James
Rosenow (Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago) Translated Modes of Poe-etic Synaesthesia in Early Amateur Cinema
(Charles Klein's "The Telltale Heart" and J. Sibley Watson's
"The Fall of the House of Usher")
16:45
// COFFEE BREAK
17:15 Sound and Vision as Synaesthetic Phenomenon // Moderator: Chiara
Cartuccia
Birgit
Schneider (Institute for Arts and Media, University Potsdam) On Hearing Eyes and Seeing Ears. Berlin Optophonia in the 1920s.
David
Strang (Artist, Plymouth) Transmission + Interference
19:00
Reception at Art Laboratory Berlin
Saturday, 6 July, 2013
The
exhibition "Translating, Correcting, Archiving" will be
open from 9AM-8PM.
10:00 Synaesthetic Sensations in Cultural History, Film and the Visual
Arts // Moderator: Regine Rapp
Eva
Kimminich (Institute for Romance Languages, University Potsdam) The Five Senses: From Cooperation up to Specialization. Observations
on a Historical Development
in the Occident
Caro
Verbeek (Royal Academy of Arts Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) Inhaling History of Art - On the Role of Olfaction during the
Avant-Garde
Gertrud
Koch (Institute for Film Studies, Free University Berlin) Word and Object in Film - a Synaesthetic Presentation
12:30
// LUNCH BREAK
14:00 Synaesthetic Laboratories of Art & Science // Moderator:
Olga Shmakova
Madi
Boyd (Artist, London) The Point of Perception - On Collaborations Between Artists and
Neuroscientists
Agnieszka
Janik (Dept. of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London) Synaesthesia for Colour is Linked to Reduced Motion Perception
16:00
// COFFEE BREAK
16:30 Synaesthesia and the 21st Century // Moderator: Christian de
Lutz
Katharina
Gsöllpointner/ Romana Schuler (Media Arts/ Art History, University
of Applied Arts, Vienna) Digital Synaesthesia - Introduction into a New Project
Romi
Mikulinsky (Macquarie University, Sidney/ Bezalel Academy for Arts
and Design, Jerusalem) From Page to Screen - The Presence and Future of Reading
