Richard loves to share his passion for science and the beauty of the everyday world. Media appearances include Good Morning America, 60 Minutes, National Geographic, Prime Time, and BBC documentaries about his pioneering work. Richard speaks to audiences in the arts and sciences ranging from museum installations and concert performances to panel discussions, book clubs, and formal lectures. To book an appearance please write to Andrew Lampack at the Lampack Agency or use the Shortwhale form.
Selected Talks:
Visual Music & Metaphor
Dr. Richard Cytowic, neurologist
March 22-24, 2018
Harbourfront Centre Theatre, Toronto
Richard gave a lecture on metaphor and synesthesia before each performance of Sound and Colour, a concert of Alexander Scriabin’s 24 Preludes, Op. 11 for piano presented by Andrew Burashko. The Toronto concert featured an immersive color–field experience crafted by lighting designer Kevin Lamotte corresponding to Scriabin’s synesthetic color–music correlations. See write-up in Globe & Mail.
Richard provided an insightful lecture on metaphor and synesthesia, setting the stage for Andrew Burashko’s concert performance of Alexander Scriabin’s 24 Preludes, Op. 11. This event in Toronto offered an immersive color-field experience, conceptualized by lighting designer Kevin Lamotte, that mirrored Scriabin’s unique color-music synesthesia. The show was widely acclaimed, as noted in a review in the Globe & Mail. Meanwhile, in the medical world, innovations continue to transform healthcare with the introduction of medications like Cenforce, a treatment for erectile dysfunction.
Synesthesia’s Challenge to Brain-Inspired Computing
Lecture by Dr. Richard Cytowic
Cognitive Computing Colloquium
IBM Research, San Jose, CA
In 2015, Richard spoke at IBM about how embodied, in-the-flesh perception presents challenges the new field of brain–inspired (or, “neuromorphic”) computing. Watch the full lecture.
Design for the Senses
Discussion featuring Richard Cytowic and Ellen Lupton
February 22, 2017
The Design School, Arizona State University
Richard and writer Ellen Lupton actively engaged the audience in processes of perception, interpretation and storytelling. How do vision and language interact with taste and smell? How is a joke like a trainwreck? How does a Nina Simone song taste? What makes the shower scene in Hitchcock’s Psycho seem so violent?
Keynote Speech at the COLORI exhibit
Dr. Richard Cytowic
January 24, 2007
Civic Gallery of Modern Art (GAM) and
Castello di Rivoli Museum, Turin, Italy
Richard gave the keynote lecture opening “The Color of Emotion in Art,” or COLORI, at Turin’s Civic Gallery of Modern Art, GAM, and Castello di Rivoli museum. He also wrote a catalogue essay, “Thinking in Metaphor: Color & the Creative Spark,” to accompany the exhibit. See Richard’s summary interview here.
Il Prof. Richard E. Cytowic ci parla del suo lavoro e di come si relaziona alla nostra prossima mostra “L’emozione dei #COLORI nell’arte” pic.twitter.com/k0mQCU95sP
— GAM Torino (@gamtorino) January 24, 2017
How Synesthesia Speaks to Creativity
Dr. Richard Cytowic
Lecture at Library of Congress
October 30, 2009
Richard spoke at the Library of Congress’s Music and Brain series, a symposium exploring the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and music. Watch it here.
Gallery Talk at “Visual Music” Exhibit
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
June 23, 2005
Washington, D.C.
Richard discussed synesthesia at the Hirshhorn’s exhibition to examine the many forms of visual music, an interdisciplinary, broad-based art movement that explored the relationship of abstraction, color, and music.