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News
Recent Article
There is a new article by David Brang and V.S. Ramachandran, "Survival of the Synesthesia Gene: Why Do People Hear Colors and Taste Words?"
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001205
Other Synesthesia Conferences
The Fourth International Congress of Synesthesia, Science and Art
IV Congreso Internacional de Sinestesia Ciencia y Arte 2012
will be held in Almeria, Spain on
February 16 – 19, 2012
http://www.sinestesia2012.info/index.php?lang=en
For a list of presenters in the Pre-Program, please go to:
http://www.artecitta.es/CONTENIDOSIVCOGRESShtm.htm
UK Synaesthesia Association Conference
Merton College, Oxford
April 14th and 15th 2012
United Kingdom Synaesthesia Association
The members of the UKSA committee are pleased to announce that the 2012 UK Synaesthesia Association annual conference will be hosted by Roi Cohen Kadosh, Devin Terhune and Jackie Thompson at Merton College, Oxford over the weekend of 14th & 15th April, 2012.
The Keynote Speaker will be Professor Colin Blakemore, Ph.D., FRS, FMedSci, HonFSR, a leading British scientist and science communicator to the public. Known for his immense contribution on vision and early development of the brain, Professor Blakemore is Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford.
Conference submission, registration, travel, and accommodation details will appear on the UKSA website conference page shortly
http://www.uksynaesthesia.com/2012OXFORD.html
Books
MacMillan Publishers has put out a downloadable electronic kindle edition of Patricia Lynne Duffy's book, Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens.
It is now available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Cats-Chartreuse-Kittens-ebook/dp/B005CW6P32/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323090875&sr=1-1
Patricia Albers has written a new book entitled, Joan Mitchell, Lady Painter: A Life. 544 pages. This is the first full-scale biography of the painter Joan Mitchell (1925-1992), a synesthete who had colored letters, colored sound, personality-color synesthesia, and emotionally mediated synesthesia.
The publication date is May 3, 2011 and the book can be found on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Lady+Painter&x=0&y=0
Tasting the Universe, by Maureen Seaberg is in stores now.
http://www.amazon.com/Tasting-Universe-People-Rainbows-Symphonies/dp/1601631596/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289201576&sr=8-1
Past News
The New York University Consciousness Project held a workshop on "The Phenomenology of Synesthesia" on Saturday November 20, 2010.
Hosted by Dave Chalmers
Synesthesia is the syndrome in which a stimulus in one sensory modality reliably yields an experience associated with a different sensory modality. The focus of the workshop will be the question "What is it like to be a synesthete?". There will be talks and discussion from philosophers, psychologists, and synesthetes.
All are welcome.
WORKSHOP: THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF SYNESTHESIA
Saturday, November 20, 2010
New York University Philosophy Building
5 Washington Place
1st Floor Lecture Theatre
9:30- 10:00 AM
Coffee
10:00 - 11:00 AM
Carol Steen (Artist, Synesthete, Co-Founder American Synesthesia Association) "Do you see what I see?"
11:15 - 12:15 PM
Lawrence E. Marks (Yale University, Psychology) "Three (scientific) questions about synesthesia".
12:15 - 2:00 PM
Lunch
2:00 - 3:00 PM
Berit Brogaard (University of Missouri, Philosophy) "Does color synesthesia differ phenomenally from visual imagery?"
3:15 - 5:00 PM
Panel Discussion (led by Jon Simon, Philosophy, NYU) Panel: Berit Brogaard, Patricia Lynn Duffy, Lawrence Marks, Maureen Seaberg, Carol Steen
Synesthesia: Art and the Mind
McMaster Museum of Art
September 18 – December 20, 2008
This exhibition featuring the art of known synesthetes, David Hockney, Joan
Mitchell, Marcia Smilack, and Carol Steen, and works by artists thought to
be synesthetic including Charles Burchfield, Tom Thomson, Wassily Kandinsky,
and Vincent van Gogh, was co-curated by Carol Steen, artist, New York City;
and Greta Berman, Professor of Art History, The Juilliard School, New York
City. This show was made possible by Carol Podedworny, director, McMaster
Museum of Art, and Dr. Daphne Maurer of the Department of Psychology,
Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University.The exhibition catalog, Synesthesia: Art and the Mind can be ordered from ABC Art Book Canada. $20.00, 62 pages, 11 color reproductions.
http://www.abcartbookscanada.com/mcmaster.html
Amy Ione and Ellen Levy have written reviews for Leonardo, The MIT Press, about the Synesthesia: Art and the Mind exhibition held at the McMaster Museum of Art, and the Invitational Workshop held on September 25, 2008 in conjunction with the show. The workshop participants included artists, art historians, art professors, scientists, and synesthetes.
Amy Ione's reviews of Synesthesia: Art and the Mind at the McMaster Museum of Art can be found at:
http://leonardo.info/reviews/nov2008/ione_exhibition.html
Synesthesia: Art and the Mind, exhibition at McMaster Museum of Art.
Carol Steen images courtesy Carol Steen, © 2008, shown with permission. van Gogh image, courtesy McMaster Museum © 2008, shown with permission. Charles Burchfield images from the Estate of Charles Burchfield courtesy D.C. Moore Gallery, NYC, © 2008, shown with permission. Photo credit Jennifer Pettiplace.
Invitational Workshop Panel for the Synesthesia: Art and the Mind exhibition at the McMaster Museum of Art. From left: Greta Berman, co-curator; Carol Steen, co-curator; Daphne Maurer, Conference Host; Carol Podedworny, director McMaster Museum.
Additional panelists included Patricia Albers, Independent Art Historian, Writer, Mountain View, California; Therese Dolan, Interim Dean and Professor of Art History, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; Sophia Oftedahl, Independent Art Historian and Curator, Oslo, Norway; and Nancy Weekly, Head of Collections and the Charles Cary Rumsey Curator, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo State College, New York. Sophia Oftedahl, Independent Art Historian and Curator, Oslo, Norway. Patricia Albers, Independent Art Historian, Writer, Mountain View, California.
Hockney images courtesy David Hockney: The Garden from L'Enfant et les Sortileges, 1980; Act II, Scene VIIA, Trial by Fire from Magic Flute, 1977; Act II, Scene III; A Moonlit Garden, from Magic Flute, 1977; © 2008 David Hockney, shown with permission. Kandinsky image, courtesy McMaster Museum © 2008, shown with permission. Photo credit Carter Jones.
Ellen Levy's commentary on the Invitational Workshop at the McMaster Museum of Art can be found at:
http://leonardo.info/reviews/nov2008/levy_invitational.html
Participants at the Synesthesia: Art and the Mind Invitational Workshop. Front row, Charles Maurer and David Shore
Invitational Workshop participants. From left, Patricia Albers, Greta Berman, Carol Steen, and Marcia Smilack.
McMaster Museum of Art
On February 2, 2008 PRI's Studio360 broadcast a radio program on synesthesia entitled, "Synesthesia for the Rest of Us". The program was hosted by Kurt Andersen and created by producer Michael May. V.S. Ramachandran, Richard Cytowic, Debra Ginsberg and Carol Steen were featured.
Synesthesia for the Rest of Us
Synesthesia causes people to hear music – or see letters or numbers – in color. Neuroscience is beginning to unravel what’s going on in the brains of people with this cerebral phenomenon, but hasn’t yet explained why the genetic mutation exists. V.S. Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at UC San Diego, has a theory, as he explains to producer Michael May.
Download MP3
Synesthesia Bringing Out the Contours
Features recent paintings by Carol Steen.The article, written by Frances McDonald, was first published in
Australian Art Review issue 11, July-October 2006.
Synesthesia Bringing Out the Contours pdf
http://www.artreview.com.au