Synesthesiac is an audio-visual interactive art installation by David Elias Delgado.
Named after a rare neurological condition called “Synesthesia”, where one sensory stimulus involuntarily triggers another, Synesthesiac transmits real-time video feed through a series of analog effect chains configured to respond to movement and sound. The output is broadcasted via projector or screen, creating a digitally augmented environment that allows participants to manipulate the image through their interaction.
Thematically inspired by the laws of nature and the human experience, Synesthesiac creates a bridge between art, science and technology. As the installation’s environment is perpetually re-transmitted onto itself in real time, some scenescapes will generate a video feedback loop. These effectively function as a scientific chaotic system, resulting in a visual demonstration of unpredictable complexity that naturally develops from a simple, but highly deterministic set of initial conditions.
Chaos theory is at the core of fundamental scientific discoveries about our existence, including the formation of the very atoms that compose all the matter in our universe. These principles can also be observed throughout all of nature, and witnessed in many aspects of our everyday human experience.
The sum of all experiences + the current moment = consciousness
Ephemeral by design, this open-ended work relies on the real-time interaction between light, shadow, movement, and sound to generate the image, which continuously flows and evolves with the ongoing moment, highlighting the ever-fleeting manner in which we perceive time.
One may find that it also provides a fascinating insight into what triggers our human tendency to find gratitude or beauty in moments of our existence, oftentimes seeking meaning for highly precise synchronizations of events and/or circumstances.