Synaesthesia & sound R & D

Synaesthesia describes a joining together of sensations that are normally experienced separately. Synaesthetic people may experience tastes, colours, shapes, smells or touches in tandem with almost any of their other senses. This project, funded by the Wellcome Trust's 'sciart' initiative, involves working with audio-visual synaesthetes - people who ‘see’ music. "I saw this most beautiful sound, it was just gorgeous ... beautiful reds, yellows and purples... My mum said it was the cock crowing ... my first real memory of the wonderful visual sounds that I experience" (Julie Roxburgh, describing an early synaesthetic memory) Synaesthesia & Sound involved collaboration between; Dr Jamie Ward who heads the Synaesthesia Research Group, Department of Psychology, University College London; the New London Orchestra, in residence at UCL Bloomsbury; and Samantha Moore, animation director and project coordinator.

images (above) from work in progress with synaesthetes ES and TW 2006