What is does it mean to hear music in colors; to taste voices; to see each letter of the alphabet as a different color? These uncommon sensory experiences are examples of synesthesia; when two or more senses cooperate in perception. Once dismissed as imagination or delusion; metaphor or drug-induced hallucination; the experience of synesthesia has now been documented by scans of synesthetes brains that show "crosstalk" between areas of the brain that do not normally communicate. In The Hidden Sense; Cretien van Campen explores synesthesia from both artistic and scientific perspectives; looking at accounts of individual experiences; examples of synesthesia in visual art; music; and literature; and recent neurological research. Van Campen reports that some studies define synesthesia as a brain impairment; a short circuit between two different areas. But synesthetes cannot imagine perceiving in any other way; many claim that synesthesia helps them in daily life. Van Campen investigates just what the function of synesthesia might be and what it might tell us about our own sensory perceptions. He examines the experiences of individual synesthetes -- from Patrick; who sees music as images and finds the most beautiful ones spring from the music of Prince; to the schoolgirl Sylvia; who is surprised to learn that not everyone sees the alphabet in colors as she does. And he finds suggestions of synesthesia in the work of Scriabin; Van Gogh; Kandinsky; Nabokov; Poe; and Baudelaire. What is synesthesia? It is not; van Campen concludes; an audiovisual performance; a literary technique; an artistic trend; or a metaphor. It is; perhaps; our hidden sense -- a way to think visually; a key to our own sensitivity.
#1506931 in eBooks 2009-09-28 2009-09-28File Name: B002OSXKJ4
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Art theory as historyBy El SookoArt theory can be tough. but Williams makes it easier to understand by using simple language. His approach is more art historical than theoretical or philosophical. I think this is a weakness in a book bearing the title. "ART THEORY." Williams places the relevant art intellectual/theoretical ideas and conceptions into their historical contexts to show how the theory seems to motivate the art. but the connection can be tenuous. This wakens the book. making it more intellectual history than theory and how theory may be used to understand and perhaps generate art. Its also a bit windy at its weakest points.Who should buy it: if required for a course. obviously. but dont read it in bed late at night unless youre out of Ambien. Otherwise. there are better options. If you are a great student or a lazy one. the graphic series " _______________ for beginners" has a great primer on art theory that is both fun and highly useful. Get through that and you should be able to write passable essays. Good students who think their way through it can fill in missing material from their course readings and come away with a sophisticated approach to theory to inform your own thinking.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. There is a good chance Youll have to go back and read a ...By JoannaThis book is ALOT of words. and the language is a bit hard to understand. There is a good chanceYoull have to go back and read a section a few times before really knowing what the author is saying. I had to read it for my art senior seminar. so supplementing it with discussion and another book (for us it was Art Theory for Beginners by Osbourne) worked out incredibly well.0 of 3 people found the following review helpful. ThanksBy Joan CraneThank you very much. I cetainly will look forward to doing more business with you in the near future. Joan
