Art and Common Space Lecture, Simon Harvey: Symbolism Synesthesia and Gesamtkunstwerk

Synesthesia occurs when one experiences vision as sound, sound as vision, sound as touch etc. - for instance the colour planes in Kandinsky's paintings felt as music. It is sometimes considered an effect of Gesamtkunstwerk - the total art work. This lecture will trace its origins in synthetism (re. the Symbolists) and consider its prevalence in contemporary installation practices.