Synesthesia & Cymatics

I hadn’t known much about either of these topics beforehand; I had heard of synesthesia from a Porcupine Tree song, and I remember learning what the basic neurological condition was. So I was very interested by the reading and the video - the concepts of synesthesia in art and cymatics, though new to me, are intriguing on a number of levels.

The various ways in which “synesthetes” express themselves and their experiences through art is particularly inspiring. Creating art from a synesthetic experience isn’t just drawing what you hear or painting what you smell... There’s more to it, and in a way I can relate to some of the artists that create in this fashion. For example, the “reflectionist” photographer Marcia Smilack says, “if I experience a sensation of texture, motion or taste, I take the picture... I think of my synesthetic responses as vital messengers that arrive faster than thought to deliver one urgent message which I always heed: beauty is lurking.” Now I’m not saying I experience any form of synesthesia, but I can relate to the notion of having a type of “sixth sense” when it comes capturing beauty. Synesthetes are cool because they can harness that sixth sense in a way that allows them to create art that is both mysterious and personal. 

The video on cymatics was also very interesting, though one part left me a little confused. When he talked about using cymatics to visualize things in nature like a snowflake, I wasn’t sure whether he meant manipulating sound to create that image or using the “sound” of a snowflake to create an image that looked like a snowflake. I suppose I would be far more impressed if it were the latter, though I suspect that snowflakes don’t make very much sound.