Research Catalogue “Entanglements”
Research LAB at Konstfack 2018-2019
With support from Estrid Ericsson Stiftelse and Konstfack
Graphic Design: Knut Stahle
Photography: Ida Halling
Group Exhibition “Entanglements”
Hallwyl Museum, 2019
Stockholm, Sweden
(2015 - ongoing)
The visible spectrum, or visible light, is the only region of the electromagnetic spectrum that the human eye can see under natural conditions.
When Newton discovered how to separate white light into its component colors, he named a range of seven colors in relation to the musical diatonic scale. (Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.)
As humans, we are limited by our senses; they determine the way we perceive the world and therefore the way we shape Reality.
Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which the stimulation of one sense simultaneously triggers a second sense.
How could one experience colors without having to rely on the sight?
Is it possible to hear colors?
With these questions as a starting point, I embarked on a quest to translate visible color into an audible experience.
I started to translate light's intrinsic information -frequencies and wavelengths- into graphic elements converted into a human-visble scale. (From nanometer to millimeters) I then carved wood pieces with the shape of these color representations and began to use them as drawing tools. A rotational motion was constantly repeated, relating the gesture to a vinyl record.
I used the vinyl records as inspiration and translated this idea into glass plates, creating one for each color of the spectrum. The path of the rotating wavelengths were engraved onto the surface of the plates and were played on a record player. The sound records were made in collaboration with the Portuguese sound producer, Mike Stellar.
Returning to the idea of the wood tool, I produced seven borosilicate glass pieces that would turn on fresh plaster molds, leaving a trace of the "light's" path. With these glass tools I began to perform circular motions on different materials, exploring the various sounds they would emit.
The Synesthetic Project is composed of three finished bodies of work: Synesthetic Spectrum, Seven-Visible Spectrum and In-Visible Spectrum.
Photo: María Renée Morales Lam and Kristin Von Jarmersted
Drawings: María Renée Morales Lam
