Cortical

Fusion

Introduction

Cortical Fusion is a large scale multimedia art installation, exploring cross-sensory associations. It is made up of a number of environments, each of which attempt directly address and affect the way in which viewers perceive their world and the stimuli within it.

Multisensory Multimedia

This project is inspired by Neuro-synesthesia, a condition through which an individual experiences abnormally vivid connections between different senses, emotions, and concepts- for instance associating the color blue with the embarrassment, or the feeling of cold with the concept of freedom. In short, this work attempt to simulate the experience of Synesthesia, forcing the audience to address and form their own sensory associations.

Art and Experimentation

While being only recently scientifically documented, the affects of this phenomenon have been known since ancient times, described and possibly experienced by famous minds from Aristotle, to Nabokov and Kandinsky. Cortical Fusion uses visitors as willing lab rats in a large-scale exploration of cross-sensory similarities across personal and cultural boundaries. Walking through five different environments, visitors explore their own synesthetic pairings of color and words; texture and music; shapes and symbols; light and sound. Ideally, this leads the viewer to a deeper understanding of his or her own perceptual experiences.

Aesthetic Space

Immersive environments create an impactful experience for the public, with inspirations from the lighting environments of James Turrell and Olafur Elliason, the soundscapes of Lamonte Young, the textural spaces of Ernest Neto, the individual-to-group visualizations of Scott Snibbe and the sensory designs of Alexander Scriabin. During the latter part of the journey, the visitor sees expansive visualizations of the months of collected data, tracking trends in synesthetic associations across the population. Through this, they gain an appreciation of cognitive experiences they share within the larger culture. At the same time, they see where some of their own sensory connections differ from the population at large, and may introspect on how their own personal and cultural background may have formed those individual associations.