Experimental laboratory “Sinfonía a todo Color” (Full Color Symphony) at the Science Festival, Puerto de Ideas Antofagasta 2014
As Fundación Mar Adentro we have collaborated from the very start with the Festival Puerto de Ideas in Valparaíso. Therefore, we wanted to be present in this first version of the festival in Antofagasta, which had science as its theme. In this festival, unlike that in Valparaíso, we participated by developing an experimental laboratory.
Sinfonia a todo color / Full Color Symphony
Art and music are invaluable resources to influence in an attractive, enriching and interesting way the full and comprehensive development of children, and this is confirmed by neuroscience, which states that the systematic study of music is a valuable contribution for the development of the brain and intelligence. This inspired us to create, especially for the Festival of Antofagasta, an experimental laboratory to raise sensitivity and perception in children by linking and associating colors with musical creation and performance.
We began, in this context, our own creative process, reviewing works of renowned artists, musicians and visual artists who have experienced the simultaneous perception of sensations from different senses, and used the association of music with color in their works as a creative hub. As did Wassily Kandinsky, who inspired himself in the music of Arnold Schönberg / 5 pieces n° 1 for his Impression III (Konzert) of 1911.
Sinfonia a todo color / Full Color Symphony
To achieve in a better way the relationship between music and color, we invited a young Chilean composer, Juan Pablo Abalo, who studied at the Conservatory of the Universidad de Chile, to join our team for this collective creative process. He, together with the visual artists Madeline Hurtado and Carolina Jarpa, gave form to this experimental laboratory called “Sinfonía a todo Color”.
The experimental lab had a simple method: through the appreciation of pictorial and musical works, it developed practical experiences of association between music and arts which allowed the children to experiment by perceiving through their own senses.
Listening to different melodies, the participants were able to generate in a play-oriented way personal and free associations between a melody and color; next they experimented by simultaneously performing sounds associated to different colors projected in the room. Afterwards the children commented on a selection of works from different artists, reflecting on concepts of composition, color, rhythm and forms which allowed them to visualize the link between music and art.
Our Team
The laboratory conducted in Antofagasta was a positive activity in which more than 30 children were able to live experiences free from translation and color association, which allowed them to create a composition in the style of the artists of reference, and then jointly create a montage with all the compositions of the participants.
To develop the ability to feel, understand and appreciate the beauty in the world around us and in art is to enhance in children the development of a divergent and analytical thought, in a highly visual society. We believe that this kind of experience is a way of contributing to the formation of reflexive thinking in children and bring them closer to knowledge and culture from different disciplines.
