Chromesthesia

• New Media Design

Chromesthesia is a computational media installation that attempts to create a synesthetic experience for viewers. A person with synesthesia does not simply experience aural and visual fields simultaneously, but rather cognates a dynamic experience where both fields are linked together as a single experience. Informed by Merleau-Ponty’s writings on synesthetic perception, the project hopes to investigate the breaking away from established systems of visual and aural experience. MAX/ MSP, Ableton Live, and Isadora are used to transcribe sound waves into color. Given that both sound and color are understood by the body’s perception of micro-temporal frequencies, the program follows a logic that transcribes sonic waves, octave by octave, along the chromatic scale, until the established sonic frequencies (notes) reach their place in the visible light spectrum and become color.