Leonardo
Volume 32, Number 1
Contents
January/February 1999
Leonardo is a print journal, edited by Leonardo/the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, and published by the MIT Press. Subscriptions and individual issues can be ordered from the MIT Press.
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Pages 1-4
Editorial
Jacques Mandelbrojt: Intersenses
Pages 7-22
Special Project: Synesthesia
Jack Ox: Introduction: Color Me Synesthesia
Crétien van Campen: Artistic and Psychological Experiments with Synesthesia
ABSTRACT
Artists and psychologists have been experimenting with synesthesia for centuries. The author provides a historical review to show that artists and psychologists have always had great difficulty manipulating and controlling the phenomenon of synesthesia. Within these limits, artistic experiments with color organs, musical paintings and visual music have primarily uncovered perceptual and emotional aspects of synesthesia. Psychological experiments have produced a variety of methodologies to aid the study of synesthesia. Currently, psychologists approach synesthesia foremost as a neurological phenomenon, while artists generally explore digital devices to simulate synesthesia.
Greta Berman: Synesthesia and the Arts
ABSTRACT
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 color-sound 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.
Pages 25-32
Special Section: The Leonardo Art and Biology Project
John Dunn and Mary Anne Clark: Life Music: The Sonification of Proteins
ABSTRACT
An artist and a biologist have collaborated on the sonification of protein data to produce the audio compact disc, Life Music. Here they describe the process by which this collaboration merges scientific knowledge and artistic expression to produce soundscapes from the basic building blocks of life. The soundscapes may be encountered as aesthetic experiences, as scientific inquiries or as both. The authors describe the rationale both for the artistic use of science and for the scientific use of art from the separate viewpoints of artist and scientist.
Phil Shaw: Phytochromography---Screen Printing with Plants: Research into Alternative Ink Technology
ABSTRACT
Doubts about the true nature of recently introduced "water-based" screen-printing inks prompted research into the possibility of producing genuinely water-based inks in which both pigment and thickener are derived from vegetable sources. Literature suggests that not only is this possible but it might even be viable as an industrial process. The author's research concentrates primarily on the development of a range of "process," or "trichromatic," screen-printing colors from plants, for which the author has coined the term, "Phytochromography." To complement this work, the author describes the establishment of an "ink garden" capable of supplying quantities of plant material for further research. Issues relating to the environment, occupational health and sustainability are also touched upon. Initial results of this research show considerable cause for optimism, although some problems remain.
Pages 41-48
Artists' Article
Vibeke Sorensen with Robert Russett: Computer Stereographics: The Coalescence of Virtual Space and Artistic Expression
ABSTRACT
Vibeke Sorensen describes her technical approach to computer stereographics and discusses in detail the actual genesis of several specific projects. She also discusses the history and future of spatial imaging, including its potential for challenging the centuries-old domination of two-dimensional pictorial expression. Sorensen concludes her remarks on a cautionary note, stressing the need to place at least as much emphasis on the exploration of personal ideas and feelings as on the development of new hardware and computational processes. Robert Russett provides an introduction and background to Sorensen's life and work.
Pages 49-52
Artist's Note
Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner: Coming Full Circle: Composing a Cathartic Experience with CD-ROM Technology
ABSTRACT
After introducing the general advantages of CD-ROM technology as an artistic medium, the author chronicles her initial experiences with the format. Describing the inspiration for the CD-ROM, Full Circle, the author outlines the three principal sections of the piece and their significance to its overall message. The article concludes with a discussion of the advantages of the CD-ROM format in subverting the concert-performance space-time continuum and the importance of this to the impact of Full Circle during its presentation.
Pages 53-59
Historical Perspective on the Arts, Sciences and Technology
Roy R. Behrens: The Role of Artists in Ship Camouflage During World War I
ABSTRACT
Experiments in ship camouflage during World War I were necessitated by the inordinate success of German submarines (called "U-boats") in destroying Allied ships. Because it is impossible to make a ship invisible at sea, Norman Wilkinson, Everett L. Warner and other artists devised methods of course distortion in which high-contrast, unrelated shapes were painted on a ship's surface, thereby confusing the periscope view of the submarine gunner.
Pages 60-61
Artists' Statements
- Takahiko Iimura: The CD-ROM Eizo Jikken No Tameni (For Visual Experimentation)
- Kristine H. Burns: WOW'EM: Encouraging an Integrated Generation
- Gennadi A. Kalinin: Virtual Lyrics
Pages 63-74
Reviews
Wilfred Niels Arnold, Kasey Rios Asberry, Roy R. Behrens, Andreas Broeckmann, Michael Leggett, Roger F. Malina, Mike Mosher, Axel Mulder, Kevin Murray, David Topper, Stephen Wilson
Page 75
Leonardo On-Line Bibliographies
Page 77
Leonardo/ISAST News
