Considérations sur la véritable synesthésie dans l’art et la musique

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greta Berman

This essay focuses on the phenomenon of synesthesia. In an attempt to differentiate between genuine synesthesia and metaphorical synesthesia, I have searched for shared traits among synesthetic visual artists, as well as among composers and performing musicians. The field of synesthesia has been rife with misunderstandings. Though ever increasing numbers of exhibitions, books, and articles have used the title or subtitle, “Synesthesia in art and/or music”, few of these adequately define synesthesia. The major cause of the problem is that art and music historians and curators, as well as artists and composers themselves, have confused the desire to intermingle various art forms with the phenomenon of genuine synesthesia. I show the existence of recurrent patterns of artistic response to synesthetic experience, the evidence of shared characteristics, by taking the examples of Carol Steen, Marcia Smilack, Joan Mitchell, David Hockney, Messiaen. I also present the results of my investigation on the synesthetic perceptions of the pianist Joyce Yang.

Author(s):  
Rhoda Woets

The majority of Ghana’s modern art pioneers received their art education at Achimota School on the Gold Coast, now Ghana. Achimota School contributed in an important way to the formation of modern art in Ghana. Students trained at the Achimota Teacher Training Department spread new ideas about art and art education at the schools where they later worked. The discursive fields, in which modern visual artists came to discuss their work following independence, were embedded in a colonial past where European art teachers at Achimota had positioned African tradition as both preceding and opposed to modernity. Just like the art teachers at Achimota, modern artists deeply admired "primitive art" and considered local art forms to have roots stretching into a timeless past. Modern artists were, in this regard, influenced by their education at Achimota School as well as by nationalist ideologies that fostered pride in an African cultural past. Among the school’s most notable students are Oku Ampofo (1908–1998), Ernest (Victor) Asihene (1915–2001), Amon Kotei (1915–2011), Saka Acquaye (1915–2007), Kofi Antubam (1922–1964), Theodosia Akoh (1922), and Vincent Kofi (1923–1974).


Leonardo ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greta Berman

The term “synesthesia” has often been used metaphorically rather than accurately. Ongoing scientific research shows the condition to be “real,” rather than imagined. The author focuses her discussion on the effects of colorsound synesthesia, or “chromesthesia,” and on a selection of composers and visual artists. The composers discussed include Alexander Scriabin, Olivier Messiaen and Michael Torke. Visual artists discussed include Robert Delaunay and David Hockney.


2020 ◽  
pp. 163-170
Author(s):  
Erin Heisel

What happens when the music production processes and spaces of a traditionally live art form such as opera are digitized? What is the relationship between community and isolation for artists when their workspace is lifted from the theatre—with its interpersonal connections—and placed in the virtual world? What opportunities and what risks does this pose for performers? Are there parallels to other art forms that developed or expanded as the result of new media technologies? This article will explore these issues by considering the production processes of the animated YouTube opera/movie Todd and the Vampire, composed and created by Ronen Shai, with contributions by musicians and visual artists working simultaneously, but independently, around the world. How does this piece utilize technology to challenge and transcend traditional notions of space and identity? What are the implications of this somewhat disembodied process for performers, audiences, and for the art form itself?


Author(s):  
Andrés Romero Jódar

El teléfono en la literatura contemporánea “occidental” ha adquirido una cierta relevancia metafictional tras los períodos tarde-modernista y postmodernista. Como ejemplo de esta interpretación cabe mencionar las obras de Vladimir Nabokov, donde se pueden encontrar modelos recurrentes a través del simbolismo metafictional del teléfono. El objetivo de este ensayo es el análisis del teléfono en el mundo literario nabokoviano considerándolo dentro de ese estado simbólico de aparato metafictional y metafísico. El simbolismo telefónico se puede leer en términos del miedo existencialista – Angst – hacia una comunicación imposible en un espacio literario donde se confunden los límites entre realidad y ficción.Abstract:The telephone in contemporary “Western” literature may be said to have acquired a certain metafictional relevance after the late-modern and postmodern art forms. One example of this interpretative approach can be found in the works of Vladimir Nabokov’s, where recurrent patterns can be perceived through the metafictional symbolism of the telephone. The aim of this essay is the analysis of the telephone in the Nabokovian literary world inside that symbolic status of a metafictional and metaphysical device. The symbolical telephone can be read in terms of the existentialist Angst for a disabled communication in a literary space where the boundaries between reality and fiction are blurred. 


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vito Adriaensens ◽  
Steven Jacobs

Few directors are so closely associated with the genre of the artist biopic as Ken Russell who made several films dedicated to composers, dancers and writers. Only three of these, however, have visual artists as their protagonists: Always on Sunday (1965), Dante's Inferno (1967) and Savage Messiah (1972), dealing with Henri ‘Le Douanier’ Rousseau, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska respectively. There has also been relatively little critical commentary on these films compared with the discussion devoted to Russell's films dealing with the lives of composers. This article attempts to remedy this situation by considering the ways in which Russell tackles some of the thematic and formal challenges inherent to the genre of the artist biopic, such as the representation of the artist's personality, the visualisation of the process of artistic creation, and the relation between the style of the film and that of the artist portrayed. We will argue that, to a large extent, Russell's protagonists in these films conform to the romantic stereotype of the tormented and alienated artist. However, and perhaps contrary to what one would associate with the director, we will demonstrate that Russell's biopics also demystify this cult of artistic genius by focusing on the mundane or laborious activities involved in the process of artistic creation, which is at odds with genre conventions that normally glorify this process.


Author(s):  
Hilde Roos

Opera, race, and politics during apartheid South Africa form the foundation of this historiographic work on the Eoan Group, a so-called colored cultural organization that performed opera in the Cape. The La Traviata Affair: Opera in the Time of Apartheid charts Eoan’s opera activities from its inception in 1933 until the cessation of its work by 1980. By accepting funding from the apartheid government and adhering to apartheid conditions, the group, in time, became politically compromised, resulting in the rejection of the group by their own community and the cessation of opera production. However, their unquestioned acceptance of and commitment to the art of opera lead to the most extraordinary of performance trajectories. During apartheid, the Eoan Group provided a space for colored people to perform Western classical art forms in an environment that potentially transgressed racial boundaries and challenged perceptions of racial exclusivity in the genre of opera. This highly significant endeavor and the way it was thwarted at the hands of the apartheid regime is the story that unfolds in this book.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-158
Author(s):  
Birgit Schneider

Ausgehend von der griechischen Mythologie werden die vielfältigen Beziehungen zwischen Singen und Weben, dem Flechttanz und den strukturellen Ähnlichkeiten von Notationsformen und Steuerungsprinzipien in Musik und Weberei ausgelotet. Es zeigt sich, dass das Verhältnis der Zeitkunst Musik und der Raumkunst Weberei weit über das hinausweist, was sich im bloß metaphorischen Sprechen von >Klanggeweben< abzeichnet. Die Beziehung zwischen Kunstformen und Medien bringt vielmehr mythischspirituelle Ebenen zum Ausdruck. Die Umwandlung von Geweben in Musik respektive Musik in Weberei wiederum macht das kreative Potential der Transposition fruchtbar. </br></br>Based on Greek mythology, the multiple relationships between singing and weaving, »Flechttanz« (»weaving dance«) and the structural similarities of forms of notation and principles of control in music and weaving are explored. It is found that the relationship between music (as a temporal art) and weaving (as a spatial art) goes far beyond that which the metaphor of »sound tissues« points at. Rather, the relationship between art forms and media expresses mythical and spiritual levels. The transformation of tissues in music or, respectively, music in tissues, makes the creative potential of transposition productive.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-72
Author(s):  
Jessica Hodgkiss ◽  
Sarah Fassio ◽  
Adrianna Rosa

Faced with increased competition on the market, visual artists today opt for digital self-marketing strategies to promote their work. In order to determine applicable measures for best results, the au-thors of this paper carried out a quantitative research survey among 158 artists working in Germany. Findings show that a large number of participants act as digital entrepreneurs, and over 50 per cent indicate a need for further training.


Public Voices ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Tony Carrizales

Public Service, in popular culture, can be viewed through many artistic lenses. Although there has been a consistent negative portrayal of government through art forms such as film and television, this research looks to review how government institutions in the United States have used art to provide a positive portrayal of public service. Eight forms of public service art are outlined through a content analysis of the holdings at the Virtual Museum of Public Service. The findings show that government and public entities have historically and continually engaged in promoting public service through art. Many of these public art examples are accessible year round, without limitations, such as buildings, statues, and public structures.


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