The project Synaptic Splendour is a meditation on consciousness, the nature of the human experience and the inherent subjectivity within perception. By blending neuroscience, phenomenology, and diverse literary inspirations, Montiel’s work traces the invisible threads connecting our inner worlds to the external reality we shape and inhabit. Synaptic Splendour was produced for Haus Konstruktiv’s exhibition “Concepts of The All-Over”, and it unfolds across the large hall and adjoining rooms on the museum’s 4^th floor, offering a sensory and philosophical journey into the mechanisms of experience.


At the heart of the exhibition is The Cortical Columns (deepening into our shared fictions), a site-specific installation that transforms the architecture of the space into a metaphor for neural processes. Referencing the vertical structures of the brain that translate sensory input into perception, Montiel’s work reimagines the museum’s columns as elements of this organic system. Encased in narrow painted panels that stretch to the walls, the columns form a network of interwoven spaces, symbolizing the permeability of perception.




The paintings in this installation are part of Montiel’s entoptic paintings series —entos (inside) and opsis (seeing)—. This technique was born with the intention of depicting the blurred and uncertain reality we experience on a daily basis. Through a meticulous layering process, Montiel applies acrylic paint using her signature spray-gun technique, then reworks the surfaces by hand. This method produces a mesmerizing duality: from a distance, the paintings appear as shimmering, ethereal fields; up close, they reveal intricate constellations of dots. The interplay of iridescence and precision creates a dynamic visual effect that shifts with light and perspective, inviting viewers to experience perception itself as fluid and mutable.

Montiel’s exploration of consciousness bridges Western and Eastern philosophies. She draws on Thomas Metzinger’s concept of the self as a brain-generated simulation while embracing Eastern ideas about the illusory nature of reality. Her work suggests that perception is not a passive act but an active process of construction, where reality is continuously remade through the mind’s interpretive lens.





This dialogue extends into two adjacent rooms, where Montiel presents immersive video installations that explore contrasting states of awareness. The first, Istigkeit (Naked Existence), takes its title from a term used by Meister Eckhart to describe pure being. Inspired by Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception (1954), the piece conjures a world of vibrant, organic forms that emerge and dissolve in an endless cycle of transformation. Huxley’s description of perceiving flowers—alive with radiant “is-ness” under the influence of mescaline—resonates in Montiel’s ever-shifting visual landscapes, where transience and eternity intertwine.

The second video, Khoreia (dancing in unison), offers a quieter, more introspective counterpoint. Drawing on Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Reverie (1961), Montiel explores how poetic imagination can illuminate the depths of the human soul. The work choreographs a delicate interplay of imagery and emotion, inviting viewers to step into a state of meditative reverie where the boundaries between reality and imagination dissolve.

Through her paintings and video installations, Montiel creates a multisensory survey on the architecture of perception. Her work reveals the fragile, ever-changing nature of the systems that shape our experience, suggesting the world not as a fixed reality but as a dynamic interplay of mind, matter, and meaning.