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April 2023 (3)

A new book - Painting Music by Ninghui Xiong

After more than 20 years as a successful and versatile synesthete painter, Chinese artist Ninghui Xiong has written a book about the theories behind synesthetic music painting and his own experience. The book is profusely illustrated with his own beautiful works and has forewords by Lawrence E. Marks, Greta Berman and Pat Duffy.

You can preview or buy the ebook Painting Music (April 2023) at either of these two links:

Link 1     Link 2


April 2023 (2)

Pat Duffy’s latest post on JTTS, “The Unique Charm of an ADD Writer”, is a Q&A with author Tyler Gore, who has attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD). The author discusses the effect of his neurodivergent lens on his writing style in his hilarious book, My Life of Crime. Tyler is also a synesthete.

Check out all of Pat Duffy’s articles and interviews in the Journey Through the Senses online magazine. They’re all about neurodiversity awareness and celebration, which is the star theme of the JTTS organisation and its website, and many discuss synesthesia.

Read the Q&A here

Previous articles:


April 2023 (1)

Synesthete Art at World Art Dubai '23

Since it was created in 2015, this major Art Fair has showcased art from more than 30 countries. At this year's fair in March, synesthete painters Ali Al-Ezzi and Yehia O. took part, and in fact they met each other at the event, as chance had it they were exhibiting on neighbouring stands. In the words of Ali, "Dubai is now regarded as the first Arab city to have publicly displayed artworks directly inspired by synaesthesia. Many people of various nationalities were astounded by this perceptual phenomenon!"

Ali Al-Ezzi's stand at WAD '23

See World Art Dubai here

Ali Al-Ezzi's synesthetic weekday paintings and other work on show in Dubai

Yehia O's art


March 2023


Music powers a spacecraft to fly 11,000 km over the Atlantic to a bilingual synesthetic collaboration - and Pat's there to do the interview. Part II!

A musical collaboration between two multifaceted and multitalented artists, one from the UK, the other from Argentina. Pat Duffy finds out about the visual and literary inspiration behind Tim Layden's and Gaby Cardoso's project in the second part of her interview on the Journey Through the Senses Website.

Timothy Layden                         Gaby Cardoso


February 2023

New podcasts, videos and talks

If you’re looking for some interesting podcasts, videos, reels or zoomy things to listen to or watch about different aspects of synesthesia, here’s 5 recent ones. Whether you choose 1 or 2 or enjoy all of them, they’re all well worth a listen!


1. Mirror-touch synaesthesia: Feeling other people's pain

A BBC Reel on empathy and mirror touch synesthesia by Aurore DuPont Sagorin, also featuring Jamie Ward and CC Hart.

Watch "Empathy to the Extreme" here

2. Maike Preissing’s new Synesthesia podcasts.

What is it like to live with different forms of synesthesia? What do we know about synesthesia from a scientific point of view? In this series of podcasts, Maike Preissing, a psychologist & synesthesia artist, invites synesthetes from all around the world to tell their story. 4 episodes already available.

Listen to them on Spotify (here) or Apple Podcast

3. How We’re Wired - When our senses intermingle

How can some people taste sounds? What’s happening in the brain of those who feel other’s sensations as their own? And why might we have evolved some of these extraordinary abilities in the first place?

In this focus episode of How We’re Wired, join producer Dr Eva Higginbotham as she explores the science of synaesthesia – from a massage therapist who can ‘feel’ other people’s pain, to the neuroscience of ‘tasting’ words.

With CC Hart, James Wannerton, Michael Banissy and Jamie Ward.

Listen to How We're Wired here

4. Color MAGIC!

Color is everywhere: in our homes, our clothes, what we read, in nature, and even in music! Have you thought about WHY you gravitate to certain colors? Why do you “like” certain colors? Why do certain colors affect your moods or make you feel a certain emotion? Can you smell, taste, or hear color?

Susan Davis invites a special guest, synesthetic artist and children's author Christy Gurley of Starshine Designs, to tell us all about Synesthesia.

Watch Color MAGIC! here

5. Bone Stories: synesthesia, neurodiversity, and anatomy in colour by CC Hart

From the Colour Research Society of Canada.

“Synesthesia tends to defy the neat boundaries established by neuroscience research. In my case, the colour I see with graphemes and lexemes gets transferred to grayscale radiography. Witnessing bright pink femurs, chartreuse humuri, and SLAP lesions the shades of flames are ordinary aspects of my workday.”

Watch Bone Stories here



January 2023 (2)


Synaesthesia Café - Sunday, Jan. 29th, 5pm – 8pm GMT (noon - 3pm EST)



This is number three in a series of Synaesthesia Café video-meetings organised by Dr. Sean A. Day. It’s an informal get-together via Zoom of synesthetes, researchers, and any other interested parties, just to chat, ask each other questions and to share stories and experiences.

If you wish to take part, please email Sean asking for an invite and specify the email address you wish to use to join if it is different from the address used for the invitation request. Amongst other things, this helps give Sean an idea of how many to expect.

Sean will email you a Zoom link on the 29th January a few hours before the meeting begins and you can hang around for as long or as little as you like! The timing is to make it as convenient as possible to include attendees from Europe and the USA.

If you wish to join, please email your invitation request to: sean.day@tridenttech.edu

Many thanks and hopefully see you there!

(By James Wannerton and Sean Day)


January 2023 (1)

In the pipeline: an online gallery!

A team of synesthetes are setting up an online gallery to provide visibility for synesthetic art. The inspiration comes from the exhibition of synesthetes’ paintings and sculptures that was held in October 2022 in Alcalá la Real, Spain, linked to the VII International Synesthesia Congress. This initiative will help reach a wider public, who will be able to enjoy the artists’ works all together on one inspiring reference website.



Just a few of the works that will be included: these are by Christine Söffing, Sérgio Basbaum, Sebastián Morales, Pepa Salas Villar, Timothy B. Layden


Here's the link if you want to know more, see an excellent short video with all the works at the exhibition or even make a small contribution to help it get off the ground.

 

Wishing you the best of luck!


December 2022

Music, the fuel of art and spaceships: Synesthete Timothy B. Layden talks about his science fiction book Dreams of Laika

 

Talented synesthetic artist Tim Layden has recently been interviewed by Pat Duffy about his science fiction novel Dreams of Laika. It’s an original story that will be greatly enjoyed by anyone with an interest in musical synesthesia, future fantasy worlds, outer space and visual thinking.

Read Pat Duffy’s interview with Tim on the Journey Through the Senses site here

Get the book here

See more of Timothy B. Layden’s art here


October 2022 (2)

Pat and JTTS post a new article on the late Peter Brook and his synesthetic theatre piece

"The Astonishment of Human Diversity: a memory and an appreciation of the late Peter Brook". Pat Duffy is back on the Journey Through the Senses site to talk about when she got to interview the playwright at his New York apartment in 2014 and later saw some of her own experiences and those of her synesthete friend Carol Steen reflected in Peter’s work on the U.S. stage, as part of a  “neuro-trilogy” inspired by neuroscientist Oliver Sacks’ The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

You can read the article here

 

October 2022 (1)

Synesthesia Congress in Granada, Spain this month! See you there!

VII INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS "SYNESTHESIA, SCIENCE AND ART", GRANADA, SPAIN

Wed. 26th October – Sat. 29th October 2022

 

fotos del Congreso de 2018

Information here

Download programme here


More than 40 presentations scheduled (long and short) on all aspects of synesthesia. Most presentations to be given on-site

Also:

“Fragrance Triggering” workshop created by Ninghui Xiong and Pat Duffy

“Electrónica para artistas y sinestesia” workshop by María José de Córdoba

Posters

International exhibition of synesthetic art

Piano concert by Svetlana Rudenko

Projection of MuVi6 2022 synesthesia and visual music videos


Registrations are welcome: see links below for how to sign up to attend. On-site and online attendance available.

If you attend in person you´ll get to know the beautiful Spanish towns of Granada and Alcalá la Real, as well as meeting plenty of members of the international synesthesia community, scientists, researchers, teachers, artists and of course… synesthetes!


I’ll be giving a presentation “The Synesthesia Tree: a New Resource for the Synesthesia Community” on the first day (Wednesday) and I’ll be involved in the Fragrance Triggering workshop on Friday afternoon. So if you attend… see you there!

 

Registration information

Congress website

Abstracts of papers

Download programme here


August 2022

Synesthesia-related PhD Position in Switzerland advertised:

PhD Position - Cognitive Psychology (Synaesthesia and Memory)

UniDistance Suisse - Faculty of Psychology

Place of work: Brig (Switzerland)

Start of work: 1 November 2022. Other starting dates can be negotiated.

This position is advertised here.


July 2022 (2)

The 'Perception Census' is launched today (22 July) - why not take part?

Jamie Ward writes:


Do you see what I see? Today we launch #ThePerceptionCensus, one of the largest citizen science studies on human perception ever undertaken. Check out this video, and discover more (and sign up) here.

By taking part, you’ll be invited to complete a series of fun, interactive and engaging tasks, exploring themes such as colour, illusion, time, sound and music, and more. The full study involves ten different sections, each exploring different aspects of perception and its diversity among us. Today we are launching the core section – The Fundamentals of Perception – along with three others: Sound and Music, Body and Belief, and Time. Further sections of the Census will be released during the summer, covering many other topics, such as how our brain’s expectations influence what we perceive.

Every response we get is hugely valuable. We would love to have more people with synaesthesia be a part of the project, but anyone over 18 can take part.

Each section of the Census takes no more than 20 minutes (usually less), and you’ll learn a great deal about your own powers of perception along the way.

See the full information here

Log in for the study here

University of Sussex / University of Glasgow


July 2022 (1)

Recent Reading Roundup!

Our July 2022 finds are from three different continents. First we have an accessible general article on syn from Canada with some quotes from major researchers, second is an interesting new research study on synesthesia and creativity, from Bern University in Switzerland, and third is an article on a talented Australian muralist and painter who is also a synesthete.

The World of Synesthesia, by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen for Alive.com

June 2022 (2)
The Colors of Crime: Pat Duffy interviews author Sarah J. Harris,
the creator of a synesthesia thriller
Pat says: "Here is the link to my latest author Q&A, this one with Sarah J. Harris about her book, The Color of Bee Larkhams' Murder. It features a neurodivergent character: 13-year-old Jasper is on the autism spectrum, is a synesthete, and experiences face blindness. He perceives people's voices as having distinct colors, and this is how he recognizes them.  He uses his unique abilities to investigate the murder of his neighbor, Bee Larkham."


If you want to listen to more about both Sarah's book and synesthesia in general, you'll enjoy this podcast with the participation of chromesthete painter Sigourney Young and lexical-gustatory synesthete James Wannerton.

June 2022 (1)

Pat interviews Barb Rosenstock, author of "The Noisy Paintbox"

If you have any young readers at home who might like an introduction to the colourful combination of synesthesia and art, they will love Barb Rosenstock's book about Wassily Kandinsky's multisensorial childhood. Pat Duffy loved it too and so she interviewed Barb on the Journey Through the Senses site, where they chat about Kandinsky, singing colours and kindergarten synesthetes. The book is beautifully illustrated by Mary Grandpré and no, you don't have to be young to read it :D


Read the interview on the JTTS site here!


 (I've just noticed the book exists in Spanish too, so ¡olé! It might make a nice gift for learners.)


May 2022

Online symposium, free to attend!

“Synaesthesia and the Student”, a virtual symposium, will be hosted May 27th and 28th, 2022. Organised by the IASAS. There are 16 presentations and the speakers include Daphne Maurer, Julia Simner and Anton Sideroff-Dorso. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the current research into developmental synesthesia, and to connect with other synesthetes across the globe in our chatrooms and lounges.

Different time zones are catered to, so check out your own time zone:

Fri May 27th: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT (3 p.m. - 10 p.m. CET or WAT)

Sat May 28th: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. CET or WAT

Click this link to see the Agenda of the online presentations and get your free ticket to access the event. 


April 2022 (3)

New Journey Through the Senses interview: Pat Duffy talks to author T. Jefferson Parker about his new book, A Thousand Steps, in a chat about psychedelics, Laguna Beach 1968, the West Coast promise and how he weaves synesthesia, humour, emotion and sensitivity into his best-selling detective novels set in southern California. T.J. is no stranger to the syn scene, as an earlier book, The Fallen, has a main character who falls from a window and finds his synesthesia awakened by the brain injury he sustains.



Read the interview here 

Explore the story map of T. Jefferson's book and places of inspiration here 

(Update for clarity: the story map is from T. Jefferson Parker's facebook page and was created by Nicole Robson of Trident Media Group - Literary Agency.)


April 2022 (2)

Running until April 30: new synesthetic art exhibition in Berlin backed by Journey Through the Senses. Marina WitteMann



Vernissage: Friday, 8 April 2022, 7:00 p.m.
Exhibition dates: Saturday, 9 April to Saturday, 30 April 2022
Haze Gallery, Bülowstraße 11, 10783 Berlin, Germany

#3380ARTatBerlin | HazeGallery presents from 8th April 2022 the exhibition SHAPE OF COLOUR by the artist Marina WitteMann, curated by Irina Rusinovich, who says:

"Marina WitteMann, being a synesthete, feels the world a little deeper and more fully than the other persons, she sees in color the emotional states of surrounding people, vivid experiences, pain, anger and euphoria. That is why the works presented at the exhibition strive to break out of the framework of generally accepted art forms. That which had no volume, breaks through the two-dimensional space, color acquires shape, paper — texture, depth. Each work at the exhibition is an outspoken image formed through the prism of the artist’s perception, through the fusion of several sensory levels at once."

Find out more here


April 2022 (1)

The Tree has its first ring

Today, April 6th, the Synesthesia Tree is one year old. El Árbol de la Sinestesia is just a bit older - February 1st is its birthday. It's been a good year for growth... friendship... and for our syn community in general, so thanks to all our readers and we're looking forward to branching out in future!



March 2022 (4)

Vice Short Documentary on Synesthesia: a New York video production studio is looking for synesthetes to participate in its latest creation.


"Hi,

My name is Heather Hoang and I’m a producer at Vice. I work on a team creating original, short documentaries for Vice digital.

I’m currently doing research for our video series, My Life With, the goal of which is to spread awareness of psychological or neurological diagnoses from the perspectives of people who live with them.

I’d love to have an episode that provides thoughtful insight on what it’s like to have synesthesia through the perspective of a synesthete.

My team and I are currently looking for individuals who are interested in being featured in this episode about synesthesia.

We are looking for someone comfortable appearing on-camera and speaking on their experiences. We are planning on having a very minimal crew between 3-4 people, including myself.

We are only looking for individuals in the U.S — my team and I are based in NYC, but I am able to travel anywhere in the U.S!

If you’re interested, please reach out to my colleague and I at: heather.hoang@vice.com & sally.burtnick@vice.com "

Here's the link to the channel and My Life With series

and more by Vice here


March 2022 (3)

Call to synesthete artists: Exhibition of synesthetic art to complement the Synesthesia Congress to be held in Southern Spain in October this year.

Photo: Exhibition at the 2018 Congress. Photo by Marina Buj.

Timothy Layden says:

"We would like to invite you to participate in The International Exhibition of Synesthesia and art: The physical/digital challenge.

The exhibition will take place in the Gallery Capuchinos en Alcalá la Real (Jaén) Spain, from the 29th October until the 20th of November 2022. This is a parallel event being held alongside The VII International Congress of Synesthesia, Science and Art The digital/physical challenge (Live+Digital Conference); a digital gallery will also be created for the work to be shown online.

You can submit up to 3 images to be printed onto canvas for exhibition: Images must be 300 dpi of no larger than 50 by 70 cm; (images submitted will be printed of to 50 x70 cm canvas)

Please express your interest via email to timothyblayden@gmail.com and artecitta@hotmail.com by 10th April 2022."

Link for more information


March 2022 (2)

“Synaesthesia and the Student”, a virtual symposium, will be hosted May 27th and 28th, 2022. This dynamic online event is organised by the IASAS. Abstracts can be submitted by March 20th, 2022.




March 2022 (1)

Journey Through the Senses is supporting a Piano, Choreography & Lights Concert at the Whale Theatre in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, near Dublin, Ireland next week (Sunday, March 20th).

"We explore the nature of Synaesthesia, blending senses and perceptions, when music & sound is reflected in gestures, movements and coloured lights.”

Zoe Marinello-Kohn is a professional ballet dancer from San Diego, US, choreographer, actor, artist and dance instructor. She is a poly synesthete, experiencing multiple types of synesthesia and her unique perceptions often influence her creative work. Zoe's art is inspired by self exploration and a drive to understand the reaches of consciousness. "As If Dancing Through Watercolors".

Dr. Svetlana Rudenko is a concert pianist and researcher on Synaesthesia and Multisensory design for AR & VR, Technological University Dublin.

Sterling Baldwin is an lighting engineer and programmer, who worked with software on Climate change research, US.

More information and tickets to the live event here.



February 2022 (5)
Our 14th century Chinese synesthetic poet has more to say! Part 2 of Pat Duffy's interview is out in the Journey Through the Senses magazine.
"In pt 1, "Listening to Fragrance", we learned what the flower fragrance sounded like; now, in pt 2, we can see what the flower fragrance looks like -- in a photo of the painting "Homage to Zhang Yu" by contemporary painter, Ninghui Xiong -- who shows his painting and describes what led to its creation."  Patricia Lynne Duffy reflects on it all here



February 2022 (4)


Convergence is a seminar to be held on May 20th and 21st 2022 at the Royal Conservatory, Antwerp, Belgium. It's about incorporating music on the multisensory and multidisciplinary stage, so the synesthetic perspective will be well-represented. Researchers, artists, and anyone currently engaging with this subject are welcome to share their practices, experiences, and historical perspectives.



February 2022 (3)


This radio broadcast will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in prize-winning writer Monique Truong’s novels, synesthesia, language or identity - and how we project it and attempt to convey our own experiences to others.

“Linda’s Rest” will be streamed as part of this year’s Radiophrenia this Sunday, February 20th at 4pm GMT. It is a 40-minute "sonic essay" by the artist, educator and community organiser Ayse Koklu based on author Monique Truong's novel, Bitter in the Mouth, which has an unforgettable synesthete main character. Ayse will be making many key points similar to those covered in "The Inner and Outer Landscapes that Shape Identity", Pat Duffy’s Q&A with the author. Radiophrenia is a radio art festival and temporary FM radio station broadcasting from Glasgow's Centre for Contemporary Arts, exploring current trends in sound and transmission arts.


Click to visit Radiophrenia and listen to the broadcast (20 Feb, 16h GMT)

Click to read Pat’s interview with Monique


February 2022 (2)

Pat Duffy’s new interview is with a fourteenth-century synesthete in China!


The power of imagination has taken Pat to a fragrant Ming Dynasty garden in rural China, where the poet Zhang Yu experienced musical sounds as he smelt the flowers. Zhang Yu is a historical character who really did exist and has left us the legacy of his synesthetic poetry, which you can read in the interview. He also tells Pat something about his day-to-day life among artists and intellectuals, how the different senses were seen in his society and the frequent problems caused by the changing political system of the times.



February 2022 (1)

“Grab a glass and join us!” says Anna Mantheaki, the synesthete professional taster and winemaker who’ll be leading us through another fun online drink sampling event next Sunday, February 13 (2 pm EST time, afternoon/evening in Europe). Come and join Anna, Sean Day, CC Hart, Pat Duffy, Pau (me) and just a few more participants – very limited places available as it’s a round-the-campfire style session – to chat about taste-based synesthesia and other types, ask questions, sip the drink(s) of your choice and hear and tell some anecdotes about what we were doing, romantically or otherwise, when we first tasted them. All the proceeds of “Romance and Rosé” go to the newly-formed Synesthesia Society of Africa.

More information in the poster below. If you have any queries, comment here and I’ll pass them on to the people who can answer them.






January 2022 (2)

An excellent research article on the co-occurrence of the different types of synesthesia by Jamie Ward and Julia Simner has been published this week (18 January 2022): “How do Different Types of Synesthesia Cluster Together? Implications for Causal Mechanisms”.


You can read it here on the Sage Journals page or download the pdf.


January 2022 (1)

New collaboration: The Synesthesia Tree and Journey Through The Senses

Planning and holding exhibitions, concerts and much more around the world. Embracing neurodivergence and bringing together the arts, the sciences, music and technology. That's the mission of Journey Through The Senses. JTTS and The Tree announced their collaboration today and we’re looking forward to seeing where this will take us!

Go to the JTTS website

Read “A Synesthesia Tree grows in Syn Web City”: Pat Duffy’s interview with Pau at JTTS

This international nonprofit organisation is building a team of collaborators with top names in many fields. Daniel Schuster, James Wannerton and Appelusa lead the main team and the synesthesia world is also well represented by leading scientific figures like Jamie Ward, Julia Simner and Anton Sidoroff-Dorso, with writer Pat Duffy taking care of the literature aspect.

Daniel says: “Journey Through The Senses – Los Angeles, Fall 2023 is an exploration and celebration of the vast universe of human sensory experience and perception. Through the lens of art, science technology, performance and interactive installations, together we can discover the marvels of what we humans can create. The exhibition will also explore the wonders of the human mind and the human experience through neurodiversity, inherited synaesthesia, savantism, people with autism with unique skills and an interactive exploration of our “classic” 5 senses (plus a few more!).

Following our exhibition in Los Angeles in 2023, our goal is that the exhibition will then travel to Paris, Berlin, and other major cities of the world as we continue this world-wide collaboration. Our aim is to eventually create a permanent exhibition at the Smithsonian.”


Click here to see the News from 2021.



Do you know of any synesthesia-related news? New studies published, findings, talks, books, events, exhibitions... Send us a description or link and we'll check it out!

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