Engineering/Robotics/Art
Brian Harris ( New Zealand)
Evgenia Terzi
Organizer (USA)
Fashion Adviser
Anouk Wipprecht
Film Making
Daria Martin (UK)
Interactive Art Technologist
Tim Thompson (USA)
Liaison to Africa
Dr. Sheila Butungi (Uganda)
Liaison to Canada
Greg Jarvis (Canada)
Liaison to China
Ninghui Xiong (China)
Liaison to India and South East Asia
Sambit Padhan (India)
Liaison to Iraq
Ali Al Ezzi (Iraq)
Liaison to NZ & Pacific Is. Nations
Raewyn Turner (New Zealand)
Liaison to South America
Sergio Roclaw Basbaum (Brazil)
Literature
Patricia Lynne Duffy (USA)
Music – Concert Pianist
Svetlana Rudenko (Ireland)
Music – Orchestra Conductor
Sarah Hicks (USA)
Neuroscientist
Professor Jamie Ward (UK)
Organizer
Appelusa (USA)
Photography
Michael Kluch (USA)
Phyiscs/Engineering/Design/Art
Daniel Busby (USA)
Product Design
Michael Haverkamp (Germany)
Psychologist & Liaison to Russia
Anton Dorso (Russia)
Scent
Caro Verbeek (Netherlands)
Science Adviser
Professor Julia Simner (UK)
Strategic Planning, Budget, Finance
Aki Hoshihara (USA)
Theater Arts
Peter Colley (USA)
Wine
Jaime Smith (USA)
Fashion Adviser
Anouk Wipprecht
Anouk combines the latest in science and technology to make fashion an experience that transcends mere appearances. Sensors embedded in the design monitor the space around the wearer, and body-sensors check in on stress levels as comfort or anxiety. Her Intel-Edison based ‘Spider Dress’ is an perfect example of this aesthetic, where sensors and moveable arms on the dress help to create an more defined boundary of personal space while employing a fiere style. “This robotic dress attacks when you come to close” she mentions. Facilitating and augmenting the interactions we have with ourselves and our surroundings in an bespoke manner. Other than handheld devices, Wipprecht researches how we can interface in new ways with the world around us through our wardrobe.
Partnering up with companies such as American multinational technology company INTEL, software producer Autodesk, internet giants Google and Microsoft, car brand AUDI, jewellery brand Swarovski, and leading 3D printing innovator Materialise amongst others – she researches and develops how our future wardrobe would look as we continue to embed technology into what we wear.
She travels between San Francisco (USA), Los Angeles (USA) and Amsterdam (NL).
Sarah Hicks’s versatile and vibrant musicianship has secured her place as an in-demand conductor across an array of genres, and is an educator, arranger, producer, writer, speaker and wellness advocate committed to creating connections through music. Her career has seen collaborations with diverse artists, from Hilary Hahn and Dmitiri Hvorostovsky to Rufus Wainwrightand Smokey Robinson; during the summer of 2011 she toured with Sting as conductor of his Symphonicities Tour. Her passion for cross-genre partnerships led to a 2019 album with rap artist Dessa and the Minnesota Orchestra, with whom she holds a titled position.
A specialist in film music and the film in concert genre, she is thrilled to create concert experiences which combine sight and sound, and that welcome new audiences to the orchestral genre. She has premiered “Pixar in Concert” and Disney-Pixar’s “Coco”; her live recordings can be seen on Disney+ and heard on broadcast for ABC. Her concerts with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra of film music, “The Morricone Duel” was released as an album in 2018, has been broadcast around the world and garnered over 60 million view on YouTube.
A highly sought-after guest conductor, Ms. Hicks has worked extensively both in the States and abroad. Notable ensembles include the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic,Boston Pops, Toronto Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, RTE (Dublin) Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic,Tokyo Philharmonic, and Malaysian Philharmonic, among others.
Ms. Hickswas on faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music from 2000 to 2005 and continued her affiliation as Staff Conductor until 2015. She is a frequent guest lecturer and panelist and is committed to passing on to young musicians her passion for connecting to audiences. Her presentation, “The Art of Conducting”, has illustrated the idea of collaborative leadership to numerous organizations, civic groups and corporations. Her interest in the intersection of mental health and music led to the production of a concert titled “Music and the Mind” and her commitment to open conversation about mental health issues continues through her blogs and online advocacy.
Sarah Hicks was born in Tokyo, Japan and raised in Honolulu, HI. Trained on both the piano and the viola, she was a prizewinning pianist by her early teens. She received her BA magna cum laude from Harvard University in composition. She holds an Artists’ Degree in conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with the late renowned pedagogue Otto-Werner Mueller. In her spare time, Ms. Hicks enjoys running, hiking, her Papillon, cooking (and eating) with her husband, traveling and blogging.
Dr Svetlana Rudenko, Bray Institute of Further Education, Ireland, visiting lecturer at University of Granada, Concert pianist, researcher on Music & Art Perception, Creative Synaesthesia, Cognitive Musicology, multisensory design for digitally enhanced realities VR/ AR for Education & Mental Health programs, aesthetics for Sensory Substitution Devices. I presented at Harvard University during 12th conference of ASA, American Synesthesia Association “4D Digital Visualisation of Musical Texture/ Musical-Space Synesthesia perception/ music example A. Scriabin’s Desire, op.57 N1” (2017), at Western University London Ontario, Music and Consciousness (2019). Trinity College Dublin The Visual and Performing Arts funding Award 2017: Visual Music, Music and the Senses, National Concert Hall Dublin https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/the-colours-of-music-this-week-s-classical-music-highlights-1.3200063PROBES (2018) Trinity College DublinTetractys: my music for Animated Art https://vimeo.com/296197046 For Neuroscience Ireland, Brain Awareness Week, concert at Trinity College Dublin, “Painting Music”(2019), for British Neuroscience Association festival BNA 2019 Cognitive Musicology via Synaesthesia, concert with visuals based on cross-modal associations of musical texture. www.svetlana-rudenko.com
The summary of my research and talk about public outreach concerts for Brain Awareness Week in Ireland is here (recorded for European Neuroscience Virtual Forum 2020) https://vimeo.com/434000287
Reviews on my concerts:
Piano Concert “Svetlana Rudenko followed with a power-packed account Liszt’s supreme Sonata in B minor that revealed no inhibiting concerns for the practicable or even the physically possible…” (Andrew Johnston, Irish Times, National Concert Hall Dublin)
Public outreach concert “Cognitive Musicology via Synaesthesia” during British Neuroscience Festival BNA 2019, Dublin:
Personal Statement: For many years I worked as a piano teacher, and I see Music and Arts as a wonderful way to enhance creativity. Music is a great way to connect and celebrate International cultural heritage of humanity. Music is a personal journey to connect to your inner self. My PhD research on symbolist synaesthete composer A. Scriabin inspired me to take his model of multisensory drama Mysterium to embrace Audio-Visual perception of Music. I play concerts with visuals to show how wonderful our minds could be, and how we can choose the “reality”, consciousness where we want to be.
I am delighted to be in this team to celebrate the diversity of perceptions, cultures and people!
Hi, I’m Jozef Youssef, Founder and Creative Director of Kitchen Theory, a London (UK) based design studio with an award-winning Chef’s Table. After years of working in London’s most highly acclaimed Michelin Star restaurants and hotels, I have spent the last decade in collaboration with leading scientists & psychologists to research a broad range of food-related topics, from multi-sensory flavor perception and synaesthesia to the role of food in healthcare, all with the aim of improving well-being through innovations in gastronomy.
I consider gastronomy to be a perfect balance of both science and art. The growing interest in the science behind both cooking (molecular gastronomy and food science) and eating (psychology and gastrophysics) is allowing chefs to express their culinary creativity in ways previously unimaginable and create experiences that go far beyond just the plate. I also believe that the rich cross-disciplinary collaborations taking place between chefs, scientists, academics, artists and designers will help shape a more nutritious and sustainable future of food.
One of my main interests is the field of psychology, especially the sensory and psychological relationship we have with food and how this can be used to develop better food experiences in restaurants, but also for schools, care homes and hospitals. For ten years I have worked with Professor Charles Spence, an Experimental Psychologist at Oxford University. Together, we have been on a fascinating journey exploring the senses, and in particular the way our senses work together (cross-modality). This of course is closely linked to an interest in synaesthesia, which I began researching and eventually was our main theme for a Kitchen Theory 2015 pop-up dining experience (titled Synaesthesia) hosted in London and Mexico.
My vision for the culinary aspect of the Journey Through The Senses is to highlight the sensory pleasures of food using a mix of science, artistry and technology. I want this experience to excite the diners, transporting them to new places in their minds. Drawing on a range of disciplines, this truly immersive dining experience will be a thought-provoking and multi-sensory journey that will allow guests to both appreciate delicious dishes and learn about their own personal sensory relationship with food.
Art Curatorial Adviser
Marisa Caichiolo (USA)
Caichiolo is an international art curator and juror on various biennials and important prizes with the Ministry of Culture of Mexico, Chile, Argentina, USA, Qatar, and Sharjah. She is the Founder, Curator, and Executive Director of the international nonprofit organization and gallery Building Bridges Art Exchange, and a key executive with the LA Art Show.
Julia Simner is a Professor of Neuropsychology and has spent the last two decades in the field of synaesthesia research. Her education and career have taken her to the Universities of Oxford, Toronto, Edinburgh and Sussex, and she currently runs the Synesthesia and Sensory Integration lab at the University of Sussex. Her work focuses on the psychological and neuroscientific bases of synesthesia, and has been published in science journals including Nature, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, and Brain, as well as in over 100 newspaper and media articles worldwide. She is the Science Officer for the UK Synaesthesia Association, Director of the ERC-funded MULTISENSE project, and Director of the ESRC-funded Savant Network. Her book, The Oxford Handbook of Synesthesia was recently shortlisted for the British Medical Association’s medical book of the year.
Jamie Ward is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. He has an MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge and PhD in Psychology from Birmingham, and previously held a faculty position at University College London. He is the Co-Director of Sussex Neuroscience and was Founding Editor of the journal, Cognitive Neuroscience. He has a particular research interest in synaesthesia and, more generally, in the question of how information is integrated between the senses. He also runs the Leverhulme Doctoral Programme in ‘Sensation, Perception and Awareness’ at the University of Sussex. In addition to his research, he is well-known as an author of leading textbooks (Students Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience; Students Guide to Social Neuroscience).
Anton Dorso is a Moscow-based linguist and psychologist. He received a full specialist degree in linguistics and language acquisition and studied for a post-graduation degree (Candidate of Sciences) in psychology at Moscow Pedagogical State University, with a dissertation on individual differences in people with synaesthesia. His research focuses on general psychological and neurocognitive aspects of synaesthesia, synaesthetic mechanisms as viewed in the frameworks of cultural-historical psychology and cognitive anthropology. Additionally, he is the co-editor of the Leonardo Bibliography list: Synaesthesia in Art and Science of the interdisciplinary journal Leonardo (MIT).
Anton has served on the board of the Artecittà Foundation as its International Coordinator since 2012, and is a member of the editorial board of the international Synesthesia Journal (Artecitta). He also founded the Russian Synaesthesia Community and monitors its web-resource synaesthesia.ru. and initiated and manages the data-base of Russian-speaking synaesthetes (now approx. 800 people). Anton translated and adapted the Russian-language version of the worldwide multilingual online synaesthesia test of the Eagleman Lab (Baylor College of Medicine) and the Consistency Test of Synaesthesia (MatLab Syntools). He is also a co-author of “Ananthropology of synaesthesia”, author and developer of Synaesthesia Quotient and a related multi-scale test battery. Additionally he assisted and participated as key speaker in the production of science documentaries on the senses and synaesthesia.
Anton is also head of the synaesthesia research group at the Centre for Multidisciplinary Research of Contemporary Childhood of the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education.
Liaison to NZ & Pacific Is. Nations
Raewyn Turner (New Zealand)
Raewyn Turner is an interdisciplinary visual artist concerned with cross-sensory perception and the uncharted territories of the senses. She experiments with video, interactive installations, paintings and theatre performance, working solo as well as in collaboration with artists, musicians and scientists. She has worked with olfaction since 1999. Her works have been shown in numerous national and international exhibitions and performances.
Ali is a synaesthete and a multimedia artist and writer. Born in Baghdad in 1985, Ali has a Bachelors degree in computer science from the Al Turath college university/Baghdad 2008. He is a member of The Iraqi artist syndicate, the Iraqi plastic art community, the Iraqi syndicate of Photographers and the Media Development League in Iraq. His work has been documented on the ” Findartinfo ” website.
Ali has contributed to numerous studies and projects involving synaesthesia and he is a member of the International Association of Synaesthetes, Artists, and Scientists (IASAS).
Liaison to India and South East Asia
Sambit Padhan (India)
Sambit has an MBA from Delhi University, worked for six years as a Business Analyst for IBM and Oracle specializing in Business Intelligence and Big Data. Sambit now has his own firm specializing in digital marketing and web application development. Sambit also has a background as a filmmaker and a writer.
Ninghui XIONG, Artist and Independent Researcher, Founder of Music Painting Art Synaesthesia Studio in Beijing.
Painting music has been the theme of Ninghui’s work since 2001. As a leading expert in music visualization, his art innovation methodology and tools have become known in Synesthesia art study circles since 2015. His painting series “Landscape Seen in Chopin’s 24 Preludes”, “Ch’in Music Flowing Water” and installation series “the Cube” inspired by BACH” are representing his art. Through these projects, he has demonstrated how music can drive an artist toward creative expressions.
His research has significant importance for art education and design, as he has been promoting Synaesthesia and creativity in schools, museums and theaters in China since 2009. During 2018 VI Congress International Synesthesia, Science and Art in Spain, as a committee member of the congress, he conducted Bolero Event which was well received by international Synaesthesia community.
He is a board member of Chinese Musical Iconology Association; FUNDACIÓN INTERNACIONAL ARTECITTÀ no 743 China delegate; collaborator of Group HUM1014, Sinestesia y Creatividad Investigación Interdisciplinar Aplicada, Universidad de Granada.
Greg Jarvis is an audio-visual synesthete and a Director of the Canadian Synesthesia Association which he founded in 2013. Greg is a musician and his work has received acclaim from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, NME, the BBC, and other major media alongside praise from members of The Velvet Underground, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Duran Duran, The Wailers and NASA’s launch team.
Formerly a record executive, Greg has marketed acts such as David Bowie, Nirvana, KISS, and Dolly Parton in the ‘90s while based at labels in London, Moscow, Toronto, Prague, and Warsaw.
He’s been a speaker at Harvard University, the Juilliard School, the Jack Kerouac School, and the Art Gallery of Ontario and holds an MBA in arts & media business plus a masters in teaching.
He’s currently a music business professor at Durham College in Ontario. In 2020 his group The Flowers Of Hell’s Aubrey Beardsley inspired ‘Come Hell Or High Water’ album cover will be displayed at the Tate Britain and Paris’s Musee d’Orsay as part of a major Beardsley exhibition.
Liaison to South America
Sergio Roclaw Basbaum (Brazil)
Sergio is an artist, musician and researcher based in São Paulo, Brazil. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cinema (ECA-USP), a PhD in Communication and Semiotics (PUC-SP) and a post-doc in Philosophy (UNESP).
Currently teaching at the Post Graduate Program in Technologies of Intelligence and Digital Design (TIDD) at Pontificia Universidade Católica (PUC-SP), Sergio also manages a post-graduate course in Music and Image at Faculdade Santa Marcelina (FASM), both in São Paulo.
Besides his creative career in music and other art forms, Sergio has released two theoretical books, “Sinestesia, arte e tecnologia” (Synesthesia, art and technology, Annablume/FAPESP, 2002) and “O primado da percepção e suas consequências no ambiente midiático” (The primacy of perception and its consequences in the midiatic environment, Intermeios/FAPESP, 2017) plus articles published in several countries.
Liaison to Africa
Dr. Sheila Butungi (Uganda)
Dr. Sheila Butungi is from Uganda, a Veterinarian working with the NAGRC&DB, a government agency under the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries which is responsible for livestock genetic Improvement and conservation of animal genetic resources. She manages several projects on behalf of the organization.
Sheila has several forms of Synethesia, the most intense being Sound – Colour Synesthesia and Mirror-touch. She is passionate about sharing and creating awareness about Synesthesia to people in her country, Uganda and across Africa.
Theater Arts
Peter Colley (USA)
Peter Colley is an award-winning British/Canadian writer based in Los Angeles and Toronto. His stage plays have been performed in 32 countries, 48 out of the 50 states in the United States, and every province in Canada.
Micheal is a synaesthete and leading expert in product design. He had a long career working for Ford Motor Company and was valued for using his synaesthetic experience to improve product design. Michael now works as an independent consultant.
Michael Kluch is a Photographer/Artist/Educator born in Chicago, Illinois, with a BFA in Photography/Film Making from UIC. Michael stopped in Pasadena while traveling the US with his wife, fell in love, and has lived there ever since. He has shot commercially for a wide range of advertising and commercial clients including Gucci, Honda, Yamaha, Bausch & Lomb…taught photography, digital imaging and design for 14 years and exhibits his personal work. Always working on new concepts, loves the complexity of simplicity.
Daniel is a physicist, engineer, and artist. He’s built an electric car, a robot bartender, and an eight-person, pedal-powered mobile dining table. He enjoys making whimsical kinetic sculptures that invite interactivity and inspire scientific understanding. He’s on the board of Arroyo Arts Collective where he helps run programming for a small neighborhood art park.
Tim is a software engineer, musician, and interactive installation artist. His wide-ranging artistic work includes a programming language for MIDI, interactive installations at Burning Man and other festivals, musical performances with PlayStation dance pads and QWERTY keyboards, and real time video looping and processing with a handheld security camera. Recently, Thompson has focused on the expressive potential of three-dimensional input in visual music instruments, using devices such as the Microsoft Kinect (in the original Space Palette) and the Sensel Morph (in the newer Space Palette Pro).
Daria Martin, artist-filmmaker and Professor of Art at Oxford University, has made a trilogy of short films inspired by mirror-touch synaesthesia: Sensorium Tests (2012), At the Threshold (2014-2015), and Theatre of the Tender (2016). She is also the editor of ‘Mirror-Touch Synaesthesia: Thresholds of Empathy With Art’ (Oxford University Press, 2017), which explores the resonances the trait may have for the world of aesthetics. Martin’s films, which have been exhibited internationally, aim to create a continuity between disparate artistic media (such as painting and performance), between people and objects, and between internal and social worlds. Solo exhibitions include Barbican, London; ACCA, Melbourne; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the New Museum, New York; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Kunstalle Zürich; and Tate Britain. Martin is currently Professor and Head of Artistic Research at the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford. In 2018 she won the Film London Jarman Award for “creating an eclectic and expansive body of work that has explored everything from dreams and mythology to technology and feminism”.
An independent designer for 40 years, Brian Harris creates bespoke mechatronic equipment. His inventions for motion control, stabilized camera mounts for aerial photography and robotic trajectories are used in local and international TV commercials and film productions. He trained in radio physics at the University of Auckland and has collaborated with Raewyn Turner since 2011.
Zoe Marinello-Kohn is a professional ballet dancer, actor, and artist. She received her ballet training at the San Francisco Ballet School and at the Academy of Ballet under Richard Gibson. Since then, Zoe has gone on to dance with such notable companies as the San Diego Ballet, where she is currently employed, as well as the Twin Cities Ballet of Minnesota, Cincinnati Ballet II, and the Osage Ballet.
Zoe is an original cast member of Wahzhazhe: An Osage Ballet and had the honor of performing at the Festival of Families held for Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia in 2015.
Zoe is also an actor in the American Immersion Theater and Murder Mystery Company in San Diego, California. Zoe is a poly synesthete and her work often reflects her unique perceptions of the senses.
Zoe believes that art is a fundamental pinnacle of society that has the potential to create bonds of understanding and tolerance and can be an inspiration for unification and peace.
Jaime Smith is a world-renowned sommelier, chef, and synaesthete. When Smith tastes wine, he sees various patterns, textures, and colors. As a trained chef, Smith also sees clouds of colors and texture for the smells he experiences as he prepares gourmet dishes.
Beer educator and writer, Zachary Rosen became the youngest person at the time (2009) to obtain a Certified Cicerone® title at 22, and has since become specialized in coordinating and hosting beer events. His work includes writing, consulting services, teaching classes, and leading beer dinners. Rosen specializes in using his background in chemical engineering and the arts to seek out abstract expressions of beer, pairing it with movies, music, and many other conceptual counterparts to discover how beer pairs with life.
Bio- Lyndsey Gago earned her degree in kinesiology from California State University at Northridge. In addition, she is a professional performer, aerialist, and dancer. Lyndsey also teaches performance and is passionate about helping people with various disabilities to realize their dreams as far as performance.
Evgenia was born in Odessa, Ukraine, where she studied both Urban Planning and Architecture. Evgenia has since moved to Los Angeles, California where she continues to challenge traditionally accepted relationships between public space and social interaction. Evgenia’s work aims to explore our physical and digital worlds as a synthesized reality. In this pursuit, she deconstructs the technological ecosystems hidden behind urban and architectural material assemblages.
Appelusa is a poly-synesthete and internationally-exhibited multimedia artist. She is best known for her work as an artistic roller skater and choreographer in the entertainment industry. As an artist, Appelusa explores combining physical forms with shapes, light, color and movement in order to exemplify how her synesthesia manifests. Appelusa is also a certified bioenergetic practitioner and founder of Light Body Energetics, a healing arts initiative. In 2017, Appelusa was the artistic director and producer of Synaesthesia Dance Experience: 4D multisensory show (SDE), as part of a large scale exhibition in Los Angeles entitled Synaesthesia: What is the taste of the color blue?SDE was the first of its kind to showcase synesthete dancers, visual artists, choreographers, and multimedia art as an immersive multisensory show for the audience. Appelusa is a founding member of The International Association of Synaesthetes, Artists and Scientists, and serves as the organization’s Dance Curator. She also hosts Synesthete Artists and Synesthetes Los Angeles Facebook Groups. Appelusa is also on the board of Journey Through the Senses and is beyond excited to serve as the organization’s Mind/Body Curator.
James is President of the UK Synaesthesia Association (UKSA) and Vice President of the International Association of Synaesthetes, Artists and Scientists (IASAS). Wannerton has been involved in synaesthesia and cross-modal research for over two decades and has a wealth of experience in organizing and collaborating on international art/science conferences and events across the globe.
Daniel produces major international exhibitions that have a convergence of the arts and sciences. In 2017/2018, in collaboration with Building Bridges Art Exchange, the International Association of Synaesthetes, Artists and Scientists, and the Art/Sci Center at UCLA, Schuster initiated, put together the major players, and helped to produce and coordinate the world’s first major international multifaceted art and science exhibition focused on inherited synaesthesia: SYNAESTHESIA: What is the Taste of the Color Blue?
