What does color sound like? Find out at Factory Obscura's 'Synesthesia' to OU museum

NORMAN — In a hidden room occupied by strangely angular snails, otherworldly sounds match the colorful glimmers illuminating the undersides of soft, squishy toadstools.

Elsewhere in this rainbow-hued section of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, a giant kaleidoscope slowly turns overhead, velvet coral reefs, crocheted mosses and gauzy storybooks beckon visitors to touch, and bucket drums and clanging chimes invite adults and children alike to make music.

"It's our newest immersive art experience ... so, of course, we have the sound elements, the lights and other kinds of technology," said Kelsey Karper, one of the co-founders of Factory Obscura.

"It's more abstract than, I think, anything else we've ever done, and I think it's because we were ... starting from the colors and trying to figure out, 'How do you create an experience of color: What does that color sound like? What does that color smell like?'"

The Oklahoma City artist collective partnered with the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art for "Synesthesia," an interactive art exhibition inspired by colors and textures in the museum's permanent collection. Open to the public through June 4, admission to "Synesthesia," along with the rest of the University of Oklahoma's art museum, is free.

"I love to introduce even more people to what we do. (Being) here lets us introduce more people to have these kinds of wonderous and joyful experiences," said fellow Factory Obscura co-founder Tammy Greenman.

"Now, we're getting some college-age kids, which I think is super fantastic, and they can take that when they go home for their breaks. Now, they're taking a part of Factory Obscura, part of Oklahoma, part of the Fred, back with them, and they're going to tell their friends and family, 'Oh, maybe Oklahoma is a place that we need to be. We need to go there. We need to see and spend some time there.'"

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How did a former OU art student's work influence 'Synesthesia?'

The exhibit's title comes from the extraordinary sensory condition of the same name. People who experience synesthesia — from the Greek for "to perceive together" — automatically experience one sense through another. Synesthetes might hear in colors, taste in shapes or literally feel music (on their skin and not just in their emotions), according to the American Psychological Association.

In the case of the Norman exhibit, the 20-person "Synesthesia" team also was inspired by the dynamic works of Olinka Hrdy (1902-1987), an Oklahoma native who studied art at OU from 1923-1928.

Born to Czechoslovakian immigrant parents in a one-room sod hut in Prague in 1902, Hrdy is widely regarded as Oklahoma's first modern artist. After studying at OU, she painted murals for influential Oklahoma architect Bruce Goff at Tulsa's Riverside Studio and was invited by icon Frank Lloyd Wright to paint more murals.

"The pieces that we were specifically looking at were studies for those murals she did for the music conservatory in Tulsa, where each panel represented a different style of music," said Karper, Factory Obscura's director of logistical creativity.

One of Hrdy's watercolor mural studies, along with her oil on canvas painting with color pencil titled "Moving Sound," are exhibited just outside the entrance to "Synesthesia."

"When she passed away, she left a huge body of work to the museum. ... They're stunning to look at and realize there are so many layers in the color and the texture — and that's what we really took off from," said Greenman, Factory Obscura's director of strategic creativity.

The goal of "Synesthesia" was to engage all five senses — sight, sound, taste, touch and smell — while letting visitors experience what it might be like if they could step inside a Hrdy painting.

"At every level, we were trying to dig deeply ... like, 'What does fuchsia taste like? What does chartreuse smell like?' We were really trying to get in there and figure out the texture and the personality of each color," Greenman said.

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What can people expect from Factory Obscura's newest art experience?

Although it is notably smaller than Factory Obscura's flagship Mix-Tape experience on downtown Oklahoma City's Automobile Alley, "Synesthesia" features many of the signature elements fans of the art collective's immersive exhibitions have come to expect: It's full of color, whimsy and mystery.

"Synesthesia" boasts a hidden mushroom kingdom where all but the smallest children will have to crawl to visit, and a green mezzanine level with a squashy couch and intriguing scenes visitors climb stairs to access. From a towering aquamarine slug whose mouth is the opening to a twisty tunnel to a tiny bubble-bathing praying mantis tucked into a cubbyhole, the team pays homage to the natural world and its many odd inhabitants.

"We get to do those levels that we like to do: We have our 'zippers,' and those are the folks that they're just gonna walk straight through. They'll look at some stuff, so we've got to have that high-impact stuff for them: the bold color and the bold texture and the bold sound," Greenman said. 

"Then, you've got your wanderers, and they're going to spend some time. They're not gonna look in every nook and cranny, but they're gonna look. And then you've got your deep divers, and those are the folks that are looking in every possible corner. And they will come back over and over and over again. So, we've got to be able to hit them on all those levels."

Factory Obscura co-founder Laurent Massenat said it is unusual for art collectives like Factory Obscura to partner with more traditional art museums.

"To our knowledge, we can't think of another artists' collaborative building an immersive experience inside an institutional museum. I think that's very special," said Massenat, Factory Obscura's director of structural creativity. "That was a dream that came true."

How did current OU students help with 'Synesthesia?'

Along with the Factory Obscura artists, a half-dozen OU art students helped build "Synesthesia," which gave them a chance to gain experience in the fast-growing field of immersive art.

"We worked on this for about nine months. ... I did most of the yellow stuff coming in, so I helped build the walls, the framing, the welding, stuff like that. Mainly, I'm a really good hands-on person," said Jordan Lawson, who is studying ceramics at OU.

Special spring events in the space include SENSEsational Saturdays at "Synesthesia" on March 25 and May 20; 2nd Fridays at the Fred on April 14; "Synesthesia" After Hours on May 26; and a closing reception on June 1.

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'SYNESTHESIA'

• When: Through June 4.

• Where: Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman.  

• Admission: Free.

• Gallery hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Closed Mondays, Easter and Memorial Day.

• Parking: Spaces are designated in a lot across Boyd Street from the museum.

• SENSEsational Saturdays: 2 to 4 p.m. March 25 and May 20, with sensory hour from 1 to 2 p.m.

• 2nd Fridays at the Fred: 5 to 7 p.m. April 14.

• 'Synesthesia' After Hours: 5 to 7 p.m. May 26.

• Closing reception: 6 to 7:30 p.m. June 1.

• Information: https://www.factoryobscura.com and https://www.ou.edu/fjjma.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Factory Obscura's 'Synesthesia' comes to Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art