I found a number of exhibitions in relation to the ways in which human senses are tested and challenged. I was able to visit the ones that were near to me so that I could get some primary images that could be used within the magazine, rather than using found imagery.
White Cube Gallery (primary research)
Eddie Peake - Concrete Pitch
Although not directly a synaesthesia focused gallery exhibition, the exhibition has a range of sculptures, paitning, sound work and performance presented in a constructed and immersive environment.
The exhibition is based on Eddie's thought that 'there’s often a sort of quest for identity in my work – and that, I think, is the staggeringly beautiful thing about being an artist. You are afforded the luxury of creating a space for yourself as an individual in the world.'
The title 'Concrete Pitch' was inspired by the bare, concrete recreation ground in Finsbury Park in London where he grew up and decided that by treating the gallery as stage; a place to orchestrate dramas of the everyday and to present the rich assciative portrait of his childhood neighbourhood as a microsm of urban, multicultural society.
The large sound installation that runs throught the gallery is called 'Stoud Green road' and consists of steel tables placed in a snaking line. The small speakers emit a low, deep register wihch was composed by the artist using distorted samples and field recordings from the local area.
An airy white curtain hangs full-length from the ceiling, creating a natural spiralling passageway, in the centre of which a split-screen projection shows four dancers, each lockedin an individual, looping sequence of complex, choreographed movement. The notion of the loop, a key motif within Peake's work, is manifested in these repetitive movements, in the daily rituals the artist will be observing, in the sonic structure of th sound scuplture and in the music played by the Kool DJs; behaviours associated with compulsion, obsession and depression.
The Hepworth Gallery (primary research)
Anthony McCall - Solid Light Works
This exhibition explores all facets of McCall's work and included the UK Premiere of three 'solid light' installations.
The work is thought to exist in the space where cinema, sculpture and drawing overlap. Aided by digital projection, McCall's new installations use only projected light anf a thin mist, creating physically powerful works that take on the appearance of sculptural forms in space. Visitors are encouraged to engage with the planes and chambers created by the projections.
Official exhibition images
My own images
Another immersive experience based on synaesthesia was the new release of the Synaesthesia LUSH Spa Day, one with the most relevance to the content of the magazine. This was something I found when shopping in the actual store and with a lot research online it became evident that the co-founder of LUSH had synaesthesia and through the use of sound and choreographed massage movements the treatment was developed and released.
'The term synaesthesia comes from Ancient Greek, “syn" and “aisthēsis” meaning together and sensation, respectively. Synaesthesia is a neurological condition where a sensation in one of the senses, such as hearing, triggers a sensation in another, such as taste. For instance, some people with synaesthesia can hear colours or see patterns or shapes to music. This is the case with two of the people who developed this treatment, Mark Constantine and musician Simon Emmerson. Together, they wanted to create a treatment to stimulate and merge all the senses to give a transformative effect.
The first and signature treatment of Lush Spa, Synaesthesia was proudly released at the flagship spa at King’s Road, London which then had only this singular treatment on the menu - an unheard of feat for any spa to do.
The training each spa therapist undergoes ensures each client has a unique and immersive experience, and none more so than with Synaesthesia. This treatment has eleven different ways it can be performed depending on the behavioural prescription chosen by the client, ranging from different massage techniques to hot and cold stones, all choreographed perfectly in time with the music.'
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