MONA will host a feast for the senses with Synaesthesia+.

Classical music in a concert hall?

Forget it.

Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art has something far more exciting in store.

Collaborating with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and bringing in a plethora of award winning musicians, MONA has put together a feast for the senses with Synaesthesia+ – an extravagant two-day event exploring the idea behind this human phenomenon through sound and light.

So what do we know about synaesthesia? For starters, not too many are capable of experiencing it. Synaesthesia is a very rare joining of the senses, and is most commonly associated with the idea that music, taste, or words may trigger a specific colour within the mind. For composers such as Olivier Messiaen and Rimsky-Korsakov who experienced synaesthesia, the condition was integral to the composition process. The latter composer was convinced the E major in his Scheherazade was blue, while Messiaen too saw colours upon hearing specific chords.

According to Synaesthesia+ Artistic Director Brian Ritchie, who claims to have experienced subtle synaesthesia in his childhood, “it is impossible to be objective about synaesthesia because even the people who have synaesthesia don’t agree upon certain points.”

“Somebody might say the note...