[-empyre-] Synaesthesia, with James Patterson, Amit Pitaru, and Joel Swanson

["jennifer.gunther@gmail.com" <jennifer.gunther@gmail.com>]

Hello world. (couldn't resist)

Let's open up the discussion of the convergence of senses
(synaesthesia) in the digital art experience with our guests James
Patterson, Amit Pitaru, and Joel Swanson. I have a few questions to
begin.


Each of the artists combine the use of sound and imagery. To each of
you (Patterson, Pitaru, and Swanson), I pose the following question --
Chicken or the egg: What came first? The sound as creative process, or
the image as informing sound?


For Pitaru and Patterson,  Sonic Wire Sculptor and Dirty Scrubber both
employ the hand and its movements as part of the interface. Can you
say a little bit about the body, specifically gestural movements of
the hand with the machine, that occur as part of your work? How do you
see this online, interactive attention to the body and its senses as
part of your digital art work?


Joel Swanson actually inspired me to think in-depth about
synaesthesia* in the first place, and I'd like to ask him this --
It seems that you deal with a nostalgia of shapes, forms, patterns,
and memories frequently in your work -- how do you see modern sounds
as converging with patterns of the past? Why granny wallpaper? How is
meaning engaged for you and for the audience/viewer through sensory
perception in your work?


And away we go--

.jennifer


 *In case you didn't see it the first time... Synaesthesia is,
literally, the convergence of senses. From the Greek roots
syn ("union") and aesthesis ("sensation"), synaesthesia describes a
phenomena where sound corresponds to colors or tastes. Some people, known as
 synaesthetes, actually experience this involuntary convergence where
touching something gives a taste, hearing something produces a color in the
mind, and colors actually create sounds when seen. This is a condition for 1
 in 2000 people, so it is not altogether uncommon. Though some have regarded
the online experience as breathing new life into the mind/body problem, many
artists are already working in a space that engages attention and sense in a
 convergence across a broader perceptual spectrum.