Brief Reflection on Synesthesia and Cymatics

The concepts of synesthesia and cymatics are interesting to me because of their connection with the world around us. That such patterns as we see in video demonstrations can arise simply through a fixed note is really something curious. To me the studies of synesthesia and cymatics are testament to the seamless intertwining of science and art, and the ways in which they can affect one another; there is an exact frequency to a literal note, and yet different instruments playing an identical note will generate different sounds due to their varying physical makeup, and will therefore create different sensations.

              Patterns exist in the world all around us, and their silent consistency is really a source of wonder. As technology changes art, so too does art affect our understanding of science and our interpretation and value of it. Science and art are, to me, two sides of the same coin; a coin that comprises the abstractness of the human experience, a sensation coming from our own thoughts and from our own observances of things existing independently of us. Synesthesia is a great example of the way in which "artistic" concepts such as color can work their way into the fixed order of things such as numbers. Cymatics is a great example of the way in which there is a method to the chaos of our perception; that what we experience, as far as we know, has its own existence in the fabric of the cosmos. As we learn more about these things and about ourselves, our perception and sensation will only continue to expand.