This project seeks to create a synthetic correspondence between colour and sound for the benefit of musicians; using the neurological trait Synaesthesia as a model. This will begin with the creation of a device to allow the artist to experience sound and colour in dialogue and will culminate in the composition and performance of colour sound music, installations and artworks. A segment of our population use their cross modal experience of sensory information to gain insight into harmonic relationships and patterns. Richard Abbott – himself not a synaesthete – seeks to transform himself into an artificial-synaesthete, modifying his sensory experience through technology to explore his practice as a musician and educator, in a new light.
Richard Abbott is an autodidact, composer and educator. He has written and performed genres from classical to klezmer, jazz to heavy metal in varied contexts with varied instruments. He has taught young people from a variety of backgrounds with varied needs and complex barriers to learning including Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Cerebral Palsy and anti-social behaviours resulting from early childhood trauma. For the past few years he has become obsessed with the Post-Human movement, with Synaesthesia and what the drawing together of these two fields might offer to new musicians and young learners.
Supervision Team: Eduardo Reck Miranda (Director of Studies), Alexis Kirke
Contact: richard.abbott@plymouth.ac.uk
