MOS project aims to explore the ways to augment human perception.
This new art-meets-science project is in partnership with MIT Physics Department, as well as Arizona State University Sci Hub researchers, The Boston Museum of Science, and the synesthesia-influenced composer Mary Bichner — under the direction of theoretical physicists Frank Wilczek (Nobel laureate and Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics), and Nathan Newman (Lamonte H. Lawrence Professor in Solid State Science).
The “Neoperceptions” team created a new, LED-based, live-performance technology that displays the real-time color patterns synesthetic artist associates with her music due to polymodal synesthesia, allowing audience members to “hear” color and “see” sound just as synesthesia would have allowed them to do. The visuals also include an intricate design of garments for the performers made of conductive and light-transmitting materials, which translate the music of the performers into light patterns on their costumes, thus adding a whole new level to the synesthetic experience. The initiative was funded in part by Council for Arts at MIT.