Jo Burzynska

Recent developments in neuroscience and psychology have confirmed what many artists have long intuited; that our senses are connected. Research into crossmodal correspondences – the universal tendency of a sensory feature in one modality to be matched with one from another sensory modality – has highlighted strong connections between flavour and sound that have only just begun to be explored by artists working in these sensory realms. This article investigates Oenosthesia, a practice-led art research project that aimed to harness crossmodal correspondences in an artwork that combines a soundscape created from field recordings of the winemaking process with wines consumed as part of the piece. Its success in achieving this was tested through data gathered from participants at presentations of the work in London in September 2016 and in Sydney in March 2017. This article presents the results of this study, which suggest that sound can significantly change perceptions of flavour in an experimental audio-gustatory artwork and highlights the potential for the design of crossmodally congruent sound works that heighten specific flavour characters of a wine.

Associations between heaviness and bass/low-pitched sounds reverberate throughout music, philosophy, literature, and language. Given that recent research into the field of cross-modal correspondences has revealed a number of robust relationships between sound and flavour, this exploratory study was designed to investigate the effects of lower frequency sound (10 Hz to 200 Hz) on the perception of the mouthfeel character of palate weight/body. This is supported by an overview of relevant cross-modal studies and cultural production. Wines were the tastants — a New Zealand Pinot Noir and a Spanish Garnacha — which were tasted in silence and with a 100 Hz (bass) and a higher 1000 Hz sine wave tone. Aromatic intensity was included as an additional character given suggestions that pitch may influence the perception of aromas, which might presumably affect the perception of wine body. Intensity of acidity and liking were also evaluated. The results revealed that the Pinot Noir wine was rat...

Recent developments in neuroscience and psychology have confirmed what many artists have long intuited; that our senses are connected. Research into crossmodal correspondences – the universal tendency of a sensory feature in one modality to be matched with one from another sensory modality – has highlighted strong connections between flavour and sound that have only just begun to be explored by artists working in these sensory realms. This article investigates Oenosthesia, a practice-led art research project that aimed to harness crossmodal correspondences in an artwork that combines a soundscape created from field recordings of the winemaking process with wines consumed as part of the piece. Its success in achieving this was tested through data gathered from participants at presentations of the work in London in September 2016 and in Sydney in March 2017. This article presents the results of this study, which suggest that sound can significantly change perceptions of flavour in an experimental audio-gustatory artwork and highlights the potential for the design of crossmodally congruent sound works that heighten specific flavour characters of a wine.

Burzynska, J. 2006. “The Sound of Steam.” Noisegate 13: 35-43.

When Locomotion No1 made the world’s first commercial steam journey in 1825 it created the first movement in the history of the railways, and of a whole body of musical work inspired by the iron horse’s subsequent noisy passage through the world’s once peaceful open country. While the train came to symbolise order, progress and freedom, its potential for unpredictability and disaster on the other – from runaway trains to derailments and crashes – evoked a mixture of fear and fascination reflected in and provoked by some of the sublime musical journeys which have incorporated its aural imagery.

This article examines Pauline Oliveros' life in sound; spanning her composition, performance and the development of deep listening. It uses an interview conducted with the author in 2007 and was originally published in the online journal of the Audio Foundation - http://www.audiofoundation.org.nz

In this paper I propose to investigate the synergies between sound and taste through an exploration of the way music appears to influence the perception of the aroma, taste and texture of a wine. This draws on scientific studies in the emerging area of sensory research. It also presents my own work in this field, which includes empirical studies that observe how different moods, timbres and frequencies of music affect the subjects' perception of different styles of wine; wine and sound/music matching workshops; and the multi-sensory work of sonic/gustatory art, Oenosthesia, whose sonic element was designed to enhance the appreciation of a number of different wines. It will also introduce my current project: the establishment of a wine and sound bar at The Auricle Sonic Arts Gallery in Christchurch, in which I curate the wine list to match the music playing in the gallery. In conclusion, rather than sound being regarded as simply a background element in places where wine (and food) are consumed, attention needs to be paid to the sounds/sound design within these environments given its often strong influence on the sense of taste.