SYNAESTHESIA+ to excite the senses

The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Chorus perform works by Whitacre, Part, Ligeti, Bowman and Martin on the Corten Staircase. Photo Credit: MONA/Rémi Chauvin Image Courtesy MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

The immersive event of art, music and food, a partnership between the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO), is creating a window into this world with the return of SYNAETHESIA+.

Following a highly acclaimed 2012 presentation, SYNAESTHESIA+ Co-Artistic Director Brian Ritchie, a member of the iconic alternative rock outfit the Violent Femmes, said the event is unlike anything seen before. ‘I don’t think anyone else in the world is doing anything like it.

‘The music ranges from highly palatable things like Bach to things that are a little big more challenging and contemporary, but we think that the environment that we’re creating it all in will make it very easy to navigate. The quality of the musicians involved is astonishing,’ he said.

SYNAESTHESIA+ Co-Artistic Director Brian Ritchie. Image by Remi Chauvin.

MONA will be closed to the public for two days during August as SYNAESTHESIA+ transforms the subterranean gallery space into an exclusive adventure playground for the senses.

‘Not only are the composers involved connected with synaesthesia in some cases, but we’re also creating an ambience with lighting, with staging and other disorientating effects.’

Ritchie hopes his vision for the event will replicate a strong body of research that points to synaesthesia as a highly personal experience. ‘Not every person who hears the C major chord sees orange, for example. For different people it’s a different experience.

‘As with any kind of artistic performance, people should be expected to interpret it in their own way, and I think that’s what should happen. We’re just taking it to an extreme,’ he said.

Creativity and synaesthesia share a long partnership, with many recognised artists including György Ligeti, Franz Liszt, Olivier Messiaen, Geoffrey Rush, Vincent Van Gogh, Stevie Wonder having experienced the phenomenon.

Working collaboratively with TSO Chief Conductor and SYNAESTHESIA+ co-Artistic Director, Marko Letonja, Ritchie said that their own partnership has seen the development of a program across the weekend which features an eclectic blend of music, lighting, and the weird and wonderful. ‘It’s a bit of a marathon. There’s almost continuous music and sometimes there’s more than one performance going on at a time.

‘We encourage people to come both days so that they can mix and match according to their moods. If they really enjoy something they have the opportunity to see it twice.’   

Performances across the venue range from 15 minutes to the epic, unbroken two hour performance of Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jesus by British based pianist Steven Osborne.

Messiaen is one of the composers that is most commonly associated with synaesthesia but how that is interpreted by audiences will be highly personal. ‘We have no way of knowing how much synaesthesia informs the actual note choices or structure of their works. That is also something that is left up to the audience,’ said Ritchie. ‘In the case of the Messiaen piece, the listener will decide whether they’re seeing colours and in what way that might have been influenced by synaesthesia.’

The Museum of Old and New Art at dawn from Little Frying Pan Island, May 2013. Photo Credit: Rémi Chauvin. Image Courtesy MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Headlining the program is Matthew Hindson’s special commission Resonance, inspired by MONA itself and staged across the entire museum. ‘There will be performers everywhere. What they’re doing will be linked collaboratively,’ he said.

An infamously difficult work by Romanian composer György Ligeti will be performed by Australian violinist Richard Tognetti. ‘It’s a devilishly difficult piece even for someone like Richard. He’s going to be having a lot of fun that weekend.’

Virtuoso Genevieve Lacey has teamed up with the TSO to present a piece titled Revolutions, alongside a solo work that spans influences from the 1300s right up to the present. ‘She is looking at that from an ecstatic viewpoint. She interpreted this mixture of the senses in terms of heightened emotional states. A lot of musicians get into that. She is structuring her performance to emphasise that part of the musical tradition,’ said Ritchie.

Australian pianist and composer Michael Kieran Harvey will present both a new composition and selections of Scriabin’s solo works, the former Russian composer recognised as one of the first 20^th century figures to use sound, light and multi-sensory stimulus within his performances.

In addition to the creative program, SYNAESTHESIA+ features a number of panel discussions, workshops and food experiences. ‘There’s going to be incredible food from the MONA chefs,’ said Ritchie.

‘Last time, people were completely blown away by what they were doing. They’re going to be playing around with food that’s not the right colour for the way it tastes, or various different kinds of juxtapositions of ingredients and taste effects that might not be common, but it will be fantastic. 

‘We’re also approaching some of the other intellectual underpinning effects of the common sense of synaesthesia, which is not very well understood by science or medicine. We’ll have some people addressing that in the form of workshops, demonstrations and some scientific experiments.’

Ritchie said that SYNAESTHESIA+ was an opportunity experience a huge amount of world-class music in the one place. ‘It beats going around to a couple of conventional concerts, because even if they’re playing the same music the environment at MONA is so unique.’ 

For bookings and further information visit the MONA website.