25.06.2013, Berlin | What do numbers smell like? Do sounds have taste or colour? 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 As a theoretical addition to its on-going exhibition series SYNAESTHESIA (October 2012 – July 2013), Art Laboratory Berlin will hold an international conference on July 5 and 6, 2013 to further explore and theoretically question the field of multisensory perception.

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 development during the last 25 years: music video (text, music, colour), computer (as “total” sensory object) and also newest multiple forms of mobile phones.
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 upcoming conference, Art Laboratory is interested in discussing issues from diverse scholarly fields – humanities, arts as well as natural and social sciences – regarding both historical positions and contemporary inquiries. The conference will reflect topics such as: synaesthesia and the neurological discourse (memory and cognition); 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).

Synaesthesia.
Discussing a Phenomenon in the Arts, Humanities and (Neuro-)Science

5 and 6 July, 2013
10 am – 7 pm

Conference Programme as pdf

Theater Glaskasten
Pinzenallee 34
133359 Berlin

The Synaesthesia-Conference is open to the public and free of charge – donations are very welcome.

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

For more information, please contact the Schering Stiftung at 030-20 62 29 60 or visit artlaboratory-berlin.org