Unity of the Senses

In the early 20th century, Erich von Hornbostel developed a concept of sensory unity that engaged with both artistic practice and empirical study. Over 100 years later, this chapter presents a similarly interdisciplinary foundation for exploring what are now widely understood as crossmodal correspondences, in both art and science. Surveying historical and contemporary multisensory art, it notes the prevalence of audio-visual work founded on traditional Western sensory hierarchies. However, its focus on audition and gustation highlights the emergence of the field of audio-gustatory creation, and the growing application within this of contemporary crossmodal understandings. Reviewing findings from psychology and neuroscience on sound-taste interactions and their proposed mechanisms, it presents the scientific basis of crossmodal correspondences. These widely shared crossmodal correspondences are contrasted with neurological synesthesia, arguing the former offers greater potential for broadly resonant art.