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April 19, 2006

April 1-15th on empyre

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Synaesthesia: Amit Pitaru, James Patterson, and Joel Swanson

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.

Three artists anchored the discussion of synaesthetic aspects of on-line experience: Amit Pitaru, James Patterson, their collaborative work at insertsilence.com, and Joel Swanson at hippocrit.com. [Related post]

James Patterson is a visual artist who also works as an illustrator, broadcast & web designer. James' synthesis of drawing, animation and programming has attracted the attention of a variety of galleries and clients worldwide. His work exists online at two primary sites: http://Presstube.com (his personal space) and http://InsertSilence.com (shared with Amit Pitaru). James was born in London, England in 1980 and currently lives in Montreal, Canada.

Amit Pitaru (b.1974) creates new tools to facilitate his work and work in audio-visual arts and interaction/usability design. Pitaru has exhibited and performed concerts worldwide. His personal and collaborative work with James Paterson has recently been shown at the London Design Museum, Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), Israel Museum, Paris Pompidou Center, Sundance Film festival, Seoul Metropolitan Museum of Art, and ICC Museum in Tokyo. As an educator, Pitaru develops curricula that focus on the coupling of computation-design and creative thought process. He regularly teaches at New York University's ITP and Cooper Union. Pitaru is a recipient of various prestigious awards, including two Ars Electronica Prix honorary awards and Tokyo Type Directors Club awards. Beyond his artwork, Pitaru is currently working on new gaming interfaces for children with special needs and the elderly. Born in Jerusalem, Pitaru currently resides in New York with his wife Makiko. http://pitaru.com http://insertsilence.com

Joel Swanson is an artist and writer who currently teaches courses on art, technology, and media theory at the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado in Boulder. His work consists of articulated reading environments, both real and virtual. Thematically his installations interrogate relationships of power as they relates to space, discourse, language, meaning and subjectivity. He is also interested in the implications of the material specificity of discourse and its effects on both reader and writer. Swanson's work has been shown in various national and international venues. Joel's work is viewable at http://www.hippocrit.com

Also joining us for the first half of April, will be guest moderator Jennifer Gunther [http://auspiciousmotion.org]. Jennifer is a student in the University of Colorado's Digital Media program, and writes for the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.

Posted by jo at April 19, 2006 10:54 AM

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