Tony Oursler's Synesthesia project features interviews with twelve legendary figures in the downtown music, performance and art scenes: John Cale, Thurston Moore, Dan Graham, Genesis P-Orridge, Kim Gordon, Glenn Branca, Laurie Anderson, Tony Conrad, David Byrne, Lydia Lunch, Alan Vega, and Arto Lindsay. These works were originally included as one element of Oursler and Mike Kelley's multimedia installation The Poetics Project. These conversations reveal fascinating insights and anecdotes from some of the most influential figures in the experimental rock and art underground of the 1970s and '80s, from pre-punk innovators to post-punk icons, from industrial and avant-garde music to noise bands and "no wave."

Thurston Moore got his start as a musician in the late 1970s, playing in Glenn Branca's massed guitar ensembles, and went on to found the experimental rock group Sonic Youth, which continues to record today. A central figure in the New York music community, Moore's activities include the promotion of younger artists (including, famously, Nirvana), the management of his own record label, and a vigorous writing career that encompasses poetry as well as criticism.