The Importance of Synesthesia

Hey everyone, long time no blog. I have just finished a lot of things that have kept me away from the keyboard and I hope to get back to a semi-regular posting schedule. Sorry. Truly. 

In the pursuit of being worldly, and in order to seem really smart at exhibition receptions, I have been frequently watching TED Talks. If you have never heard of TED Talks, then I suggest you clear your schedule. TED stands for technology, entertainment, and design. In summary, the worlds greatest minds are brought together once a year in Long Beach, CA to give 18 minute lectures in their area of expertise. Everyone from Steven Pinker to Al Gore to Dave Eggers has been an invited guest. Lectures from 1984 - Present have been archived on their website www.ted.com. 

What spurred me back to the keyboard on this rainy Friday morning was an encounter with an amazing mind from the world of science. Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran is a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of California at San Deigo. Wikipedia told me that has has been called the "Marco Polo of neuroscience." Anyhow, Dr. Ramachandran is one of the premier neuroscience researchers in the world. I have linked this post to his talk so you can check it out. It presents some of his research findings on synesthesia. Watch the video. OK? 

So synesthesia is cross sensory perception. It is genetic, and it also allows for abnormally diverse cross nuero connections to be made that result in creative thinking. In other words, synesthetes (people with synesthesia) have an amazing capacity for metaphorical thinking. Not only that, but this metaphorical thinking can be measured with a tool called an fMRI. 

So Dr. Ramachandran leaves us there, but from his research I think we can infer a little bit more. What does this mean? The ability to connect seemingly dissimilar (neural) information is that hallmark of an artistic mind. But what really gets me excited is that the aptitude to be an artist, or to think metaphorically, resides in our ability to make information fit together in novel ways. Everyday I am presented with material that I find corollary that is at the same time superficially dissimilar. It never occurred to me that this was a symptom of my creative disorder. Seeing a leading neuroscientist prove that metaphorical thinking is the basis of creativity and art has changed my life somewhat.

To bring it home, I am a metalsmith. For me this title falls under the scope of craft, which in turn falls under the larger heading of Art (feel free to disagree with any of the above). While I employ craft skills to make my work, it is truly my ability to think metaphorically that allows me to be an artist. Perfect execution makes my work presentable, but it does not make my work art. The ability to communicate my synesthetic thoughts, or unique perspective, is physiologically what makes me an artist. If there was ever an argument for the importance of conceptual metalsmtihing, I think this is it.

The ideas that we have make us artists, the skills that we have make us technicians, scientifically. Now, that is not to say that those things can't exist without each other, or one is better than the other. But if you want to work as an artist in metal, then you best bring your metaphorical thinking to the table.

Wow.

-Gabriel