neural colour (2019)

Neural Colour is an artistic study in machine perception, exploring how synesthesia might look within the scope of artificial intelligence.
Neural Colour (2019), 48 x 48 inches, archival inkjet print on paper

the phenomenon
Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which the senses overlap. Those with synesthesia, known as synesthetes, often report vivid colour associations when reading specific letters and words.
the concept
This generative artwork was designed with the help of neural networks trained on the letter-colour associations reported by 6,588 synesthetes. As the machine reads a text corpus (in this case, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), it produces a brilliant array of colours. In this context, the artificial intelligence becomes a novel tool for computational creativity—perceiving the text not as words and letters, but as hues and saturations.
the artwork
The final artwork is a large high quality archival inkjet print, measuring 48 x 48 inches (121.92 x 121.92 cm), and framed in rich walnut. The artwork was exhibited as part of Art in the Age of AI, a London exhibition and charity auction curated by Verisart that also included works by Casey Reas, Mario Klingemann, Sougwen Chung, and other artists within the field of AI. The artwork was sold at auction, with all proceeds going toward Cool Earth, a UK-based charity working to prevent rainforest destruction.

Neural Colour
Published:

Neural Colour

Neural Colour is an artistic study in machine perception, exploring how synesthesia might look within the scope of artificial intelligence.

Published: