Venue: Schemerlicht Festival, Goffertpark, Nijmegen
The language of discussion is Dutch.
Colours that make sounds or words with a taste? For most people, the senses are clearly separated: you see something, hear something, smell something. But in synesthesia, some senses overlap and blend together. What happens in the brains of people with synesthesia? And what does this tell us about the way all of us experience the world, even when our senses seem to function normally?
Come and listen to synesthesia researcher Tessa van Leeuwen and artist Marco Broeders discuss the boundary between perception and reality.
The language of discussion is Dutch.
This programme is part of the audiovisual arts festival Schemerlicht.
About the speakers
Tessa van Leeuwen is a cognitive neuroscientist at Tilburg University and a guest researcher at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour at Radboud University. Van Leeuwen studies individual differences in subjective perception, including synesthesia (the blending of senses), aphantasia (the inability to form mental images), hyperphantasia (extremely vivid mental imagery), and sensory processing sensitivity (high sensitivity).
Marco Broeders graduated as an architectural designer at the St. Joost Academy in Breda. He later discovered that the inside of abandoned industrial buildings and stripped-down factory halls were his 'canvas of choice' for his work. Under the name Co2RO, he now works on spatial designs, in which he plays with contrasts such as light and heavy, light and dark, and an arsenal of obscure projectors and lamps.
Participation
Tickets are available on the website of Schemerlicht Festival.
About Schemerlicht 9 - 19 October 2026
Schemerlicht is an evening walk through the Goffertpark in Nijmegen, where art, nature, and science come together around a shared theme. Along the route, visitors encounter audiovisual art installations that give the park its own unique rhythm and color. In collaboration with Radboud Reflects, an in-depth program is offered in which speakers explore the theme from a variety of perspectives.
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