Abstract

Keywords: multisensory processes, multimodality, art and science, art and technology, perception.

Recently, we are experiencing a resurgence of interest on multisensoriality, both in science and art. There are so many perspectives and terminologies related to this subject that it is sometimes difficult to address it in a precise way. The aim of this article is to analyze such semantic problems and discuss the relation between scientific and artistic research on multisensory processes. This work proposes that artworks can contribute in its own way to the research developed in the sciences. Therefore, some key characteristics of both areas are briefly discussed, and an overview of some semantic issues and possible solutions is presented. Finally, three contemporary art study cases are introduced in order demonstrate how art can contribute to this research.

• Loren P. Bergantini is a multimedia artist and PhD candidate at the School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo (ECA/USP), Brazil. Which is the same institution where she obtained her Master’s degree in 2016, and completed her bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts/ Multimedia and Intermedia in 2013. Currently, she holds a PhD fellowship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) about the modulations of perception in multisensory artworks that enabled her to spend a year as a guest student in Interface Cultures (University of Art and Design Linz/ Austria) from 2019 to 2020. She is also a member of the ECA/USP Realidades research group since 2014. Her artistic interests encompass interactive art, digital art, synesthesia, music, singing, multidisciplinarity, multisensory art, multimodal art, perception, and the relation between art and science.