The ‘unity of the arts’ – an intentional combining and integration of multiple artforms – was explored by numerous artists of the Baroque period, with Gian Lorenzo Bernini being the figure most often credited with realising the idea. This approach aimed at creating works that affected the viewer’s senses in an overwhelming and emotionally charged way. Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa 1647–52 – housed in the Cornaro Chapel of the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome – is a prime example of this concept, in which the artist combines architecture, sculpture, painted stucco and a hidden light source to create the unified religious drama.  

In Seven character quatrain, artist Zhang Song combines poetry with a brush-and-ink scroll painting of a Chinese landscape and filmed content of the countryside, to reflect on the senses and how these have been approached and viewed historically in Chinese aesthetics. The central screen shows a girl reading braille as she recites, in Mandarin, a poem by Ming-dynasty scholar–official and poet Yang Rong (which can be read in translation below). We watch as she touches each word used to describe a landscape. The poem communicates Yang’s feeling of immersion in a painting, its power to affect the senses and convey the experience of an actual landscape.

To the left of the girl is a vertical scroll painting Early Spring 1072, by renowned Song-dynasty artist Guo Xi. Zhang’s choice of this famous artwork is important: its creator was also a well-known art theorist, whose 1117 treatise on landscape painting, titled ‘Linquan Gaozhi’ (‘Lofty Ambitions in Forests and Streams’), outlines his belief that creating art involves the ability to see beyond immediate material phenomenon, and to experience nature directly through the mind.

To the girl’s right is an image of a landscape of tall fir trees and open skies, conveyed through film. Each aesthetic form in the work – poetry, painting, film – is interconnected, yet each uses a different ‘language’ to convey an understanding of the world. 
 

Inscription on Minister Wu’s Landscape
by Yang Rong (1371–1440), translated from Mandarin by Zhang Song, 25 January 2008

The high and steep green mountain seems to rise into the midair
The numerous hibiscus flowers overlapping each other are a bit wet from the purple mist
Last night a heavy spring rain fell on the mountain,
and the stream running through the valley is torrential now 
How many families are located behind the mound?
A flight of stone steps covered with dark green moss ascends obliquely
The devious stream turns here
Along the stream, the narrow path has grass flourishing on both sides
The moon sets into the deep and quiet woods,
and the crows return home early
The mountain is so desolate that there are barely any visitors around the cave entrance
The clouds rapidly move past the trees’ twigs on the green mountain
Indistinctively I seem to glimpse the trees of Cangzhou,
and hear a bell ringing from an ancient temple in the distance 
When the sun rises beyond the thatched cottages, 
the chickens and dogs begin to make noises
The smoke from the kitchen chimneys stretches for ten miles to the remote villages
I nearly consider this bamboo valley a Chinese Shangri-la 
Then I realise the creator has understood the philosophical theories,
therefore he reveals the inexplicable secrets through his brushstrokes.
The minister loves this landscape and cheerfully embraces it, 
and hangs it on the white wall of a high-ceiling hall
It is difficult to seek beautiful scenery in the world, 
therefore this painting is more valuable than gold
It is really pleasant to read in this hall,
and when facing this painting, 
you could almost feel the cool breeze stirring the woods and refreshing you.