Synaesthesia: When Senses and Community Unite 19 March 2026 @ 15:00 - 18:30 Macquarie University, NextSense, Sydney
Two days. Two events. One shared mission: to honour the extraordinary ways our senses can intertwine. And the extraordinary community that lives inside that experience.
Journey Through The Senses was proud to serve as the main sponsor and creative partner for a landmark Sydney Synaesthesia programme. We presented it in close collaboration with the Synaesthesia Research Group and Performance and Expertise Research Centre at Macquarie University, NextSense, Playtronica, Filigree & Shadow, and a brilliant network of the Australian synaesthesia community, artists and researchers.
Wednesday Seminar The programme opened with an academic seminar featuring Dr Solange Glasser. The seminar, hosted by the Performance and Expertise Research Centre at Macquarie University, gathered students, staff, and researchers for a rich exploration of music psychology, music expertise development, virtual reality, and synaesthesia in music creation. The room buzzed with questions and the unmistakable energy of minds lighting up in real time.
Thursday Community Meetup as The Heart of the Week From 3:00 pm the NextSense forum transformed into a living sensory playground.
Lively SynStations invited hands-on discovery:
- intuitive sensory music instruments from Playtronica
- perfume-and-music scent journeys by Filigree & Shadow
- children’s books celebrating synaesthetic minds
- film trailers and excerpts featuring synaesthesia on screen
- thermal-imaging personality portraits
- a live survey on research conducted by Jordan Ratcliffe
- a rubber hand experiment involving cross-modal links
- and an interactive exploration of the synaesthetic meaning of colour.
Big screens flickered with synaesthetic paintings and artist materials, setting a vibrant, immersive atmosphere from the very first moment.
At 4:00 pm the Panel Discussion brought Prof Anina Rich and Anton Dorso to the stage for sharp, illuminating lightning talks, followed by Q&A. Dr Solange Glasser then returned as Invited Speaker, weaving her expertise in music psychology, chromesthesia, and VR into a compelling 20-minute journey.
After a short refreshment break (complete with gifts and generous catering), the energy shifted again. Katya Petetskaya, in collaboration with Anton Sidoroff-Dorso, delivered Fullness, a task-oriented performance and participatory workshop on multisensory perception that invited every attendee to slow down, contemplate, and feel the full spectrum of their senses in synchronous meaningfulness.
The evening closed in the Dialogue Space, where synaesthetes, researchers, artists, and newcomers sat together in open conversation and shared reflection until 6:30 pm.
The real story At peak capacity we welcomed more than 50 participants, exactly the warm, focused gathering we had hoped for. What we didn’t anticipate was the depth of appreciation. People travelled from interstate just to be in the room, to have talks with researchers and each other, to get involved in activities. Some synaesthetes who had never met another person who sees the world the way they do suddenly found themselves surrounded by understanding. Researchers heard personal stories that may shape future experiments. Artists discovered new collaborators. Everyone left saying the same thing: “I didn’t know how much I needed this.”
The feedback was unanimous: the programme felt rich, professional, playful, and deeply respectful of every kind of sensory reality. Many told us it was the most engaging and informative synaesthesia event they had ever attended in Australia.
For Journey Through The Senses, this afternoon meetup was more than an event. It was living proof of why we exist: to create spaces where science, art, and lived experience meet and where they blend, spark, and grow together.
We are only at the beginning.
The community is taking shape. The connections are real. And the next chapter of synaesthesia in Australia is already writing itself – in colour, in sound, in taste, in touch, and above all, in shared wonder.
Thank you to every synaesthete, researcher, artist, student, and supporter who made this possible.
See you all at the next gathering.
Journey Through The Senses, proud main sponsor and creative partner in collaboration with the Synaesthesia Research Group, Performance and Expertise Centre of Macquarie University.