Synesthesia Conference 2009

SYNAESTHESIA 2009
THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON SYNAESTHESIA, SCIENCE & RT
GRANADA, April 26-29th 2009
For more information go to http://www.artecitta.es or write info@artecitta.es

CONGRESS TOPICS
SYNESTHESIA is the term used to describe a set of cognitive states related
to the union of the senses. Etymologically speaking, 'syn' = union,
'estesia' = senses; thus 'union of the senses'.

Synesthesias are genuine perceptions, not memorized visual associations
from childhood or metaphorical speech. They are produced by
hyper-connectivity among the cerebral areas. Neurologically speaking, if
the crossing is extensive, that is to say, if the interconnections are
related to cerebral parts that process or represent summaries of concepts,
this would explain links between creativity, metaphor and synesthesia, with
the consequent greater incident among poets and artists. The latest
investigations carried out in this field turn out to be extremely
interesting for knowledge of the human mind. It is an open window to our
brain which may allow us to resolve many cognitive relationships with
perception and thought.

For this reason, the University of Grenade, the International Foundation
Arte Cittá, and Politecnico di Milano (Italy),have collaborated jointly in
the organization of the 3st International Congress on Synesthesia, Science
and Art, for the purpose of showing and exploring the advancements made by
European experts and American investigators of great prestige, in each of
the numerous aspects of synesthesia. The interdisciplinary focus of the
Congress that we present enables all those interested to approach a
territory as exciting as the one that occupies us, being especially
directed towards neurologists, psychologists, artists, linguists, art
historians, musicians, educators and investigators of sensory disabilities,
students and synesthetes of all categories.

The Congress is interdisciplinary, it includes:
* Neurology and linguistic * Psycology and perception * Literature and linguistic *Artistic

* Graphic and design * Pharmacology * Education * Music * New Technologies

DEADELINES
- before September 1, 2008: abstracts for presentation (20’)
- until January 1, 2009: for short presentations and posters
- February 2009 15, 2009: communication complete.

VENUE
The meeting will be held at the 'Parque de las Ciencias' (Sciences Park) of
Granada (http://www.parqueciencias.com/novedades/rectaFinal/).
Located in the heart of the city, it is a modern building fully equipped
with the latest facilities for conferences and exhibitions.

the misleading names of colours

Recently I received a limited edition excerpt from the book on synesthesia, “Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens” by Pat Duffy and discovered something strange: The title of the book in Spanish is “Gatos Azules y Gatitos Verde Manzana” seemed to carry more accurately Pat’s synesthetic experience of “cats” and “kittens. Ironically, and I have always known this, despite my indepth understanding of colours and the words we use to label them, the word Chartreuse has always been dark fuchsia to me (as fuchsia has been a bit more of a dark violet with a fluffy fringe). At the same time “verde manzana” feels precisely apple green or chartreuse (which is its meaning in Spanish). The “Gatos Azules” part is ok, though “Gatos” has always seemed grey to me, making the azul (blue) a bit cobalty and smokey. I don’t experience the kind of synesthesia where you see the letters in different colours-the classic test doesn’t work for me I just see a triangle of jumbled up 5s and 2s unless I really search.

Nonetheless, I get a undeniable sense of the colour of sounds, words and concepts. Funnily the most common colours are themselves, eg blue is blue, green is green and red is red. It is the less common ones whose names defy their physical properties eg Fusicia and Chartreuse; although I know what colours they really are, they will always be something else as well, they have a hidden identity only for me.

Anyhow I was cruising the Internet today and came across a few sites, some perhaps more interesting than others. Check them out and share your objective points of view if you have time:

http://www.colorofmysound.com/

http://www.bu.edu/synesthesia/experiments/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P007waNRpMc

http://www.geekpreneur.com/use-synesthesia-for-power-creativity

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VH9-4KD5C4J-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=ec5628de2181d1f492dd682af6d5401b

http://www.neurologyreviews.com/jul02/nr_jul02_mindseye.html

points of view

The Synesthesia The Synesthesia Questionnaire (POLL), below on the right, needs more participants. Please take your time to give your point of view. Also add any questions you would like answered about synesthesia or suggestions you might have for this blog by commenting or adding posts to this page.

new links

Check out the Synesthesia Links on the left; websites linked to some of those involved in the makeing of this blog. Let me know of others that might be relevant.

First post

This is the first post of the Synesthesia Art Forum, placed on the beautifully shaped date 080808, hoping to develop a collaborative project using this space as a forum wherein we can enquire, share research and experiences, show work, create links and propose and develop projects, exhibitions, gatherings, events etc.

In addition to creating and presenting art, I am interested in researching synesthesia in contemporary art. I would like to understand different processes and activities which involve multiple senses "synestheticly" to investigate how they might enhance awareness and creativity.

I would appreciate it if you could comment on this by describing your experience of synesthesia in regards to how you create artwork.