Synesthésies

Artists’ Statements 19 The inclusion, for example, of live film footage in the work functions at a meta-thematic level to provoke reflection on changing methods of representation . What happens when 2D representation extends into a 3D world, and how does this affect perception? Is the participant able to solve the enigmas in the painting when he/she is able to explore through VR the hidden space, including the space of the previously hidden face of the canvas, or are further questions raised? Both Mitologies and Las Meninas thus utilize different thematic structures to extend the possibilities of traditional cinema and to provoke investigation into the transformation of these possibilities by the emergence of a new form of visual environment. SYNESTHÉSIES Dora Feïlane, 2, rue Lieutaud, 13100 Aix-en-Provence, France. Received 16 February 1999. Accepted for publication by Jacques Mandelbrojt. Synesthésies (Fig. 4) was shown to the public for the first time at the Lucernaire Theater, Paris, in 1971. This dance piece was the culmination of 2 years of research work with painter Bernard Point and composer Marcel Frémiot. I have always thought that a work of art is a synthesis and that it can only be appreciated with a synthetic mind. For instance, a painting is the synthesis of colors, shapes, the subject and the supporting environment; music is comprised of a sound substance, its arrangement and the shape given to the piece; dance consists of a theme, the chosen movements, light and technique. I also think there exists a sort of symbiosis between a work of art and the state of mind of the viewer as he or she contemplates the work: a reciprocity between his or her individual consciousness and the work of art. Moreover, I find myself naturally favoring synthesis over analysis . The project that I proposed to Frémiot and Point was intended to combine both analysis and synthesis. Over the next 2 years, we would meet for 2 hours each week in my dance studio in Montmartre and collectively attempt to realize the relationships between our three means of expression. Point began by painting colored shapes of his own creation, according to gestalt theory. Next, he displayed each shape to us on an easel. Frémiot responded on a piano or with small percussion instruments . When he was through (I always waited until he was through in order not to be influenced by Frémiot’s music ), I improvised movements inspired by my observation of Point’s colored shapes. At the end of each session, we would each note our results. Frémiot would play various sounds, which he organized into forms according to Pierre Schaeffer’s “morphology of sound objects” [1]. Point and I would respond in turn to the sounds and would write our results down. It was then my turn to initiate the process. I had done some research and had established a catalog of movements sorted according to their form, their dynamics and the space they occupied. I performed various movements and my colleagues would respond to the movements, each in their own medium. After nearly 2 years, we gathered our results and observed a great deal of consistency in the features of the various media that provoked responses in the other media. For instance, wide movements accentuated with wide jumps corresponded to red colors and full sounds; round and slow movements tended towards blue; yellow seemed both to induce and to respond to sharper movements and acute sounds. We decided to create a piece, Synesthésies, to showcase these relationships . We decided on the plot of the ballet and put the work together. Point’s paintings were reproduced on slides to allow us to project them over the stage, and Frémiot’s music was recorded. I, then, put the dance into shape. In the performance, I danced to Fremiot’s music while slides of Point’s paintings were projected over the stage area. My costume was white to allow the projected colors to play over my body as I moved. The dance started on the ground, with the stage shrouded in dark brown. As the piece progressed, the music sustained the interplay of...