“Nothing exists except atoms and empty space,” wrote the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus. “Everything else is opinion.”
Along with being credited as the father of modern science, Democritus had the unsavory reputation of being something of a comic gadfly. Commonly referred to as “The Mocker” by his fellow citizens, Democritus never appeared in public without laughing deliriously at human follies. Suss Müsik can relate.
Democritus argued that the natural world recreates itself from indivisible materials that have eternal endpoints. He further insisted that knowledge came in two forms: that which is inherently “legitimate” and achieved through intellect, and that which he called “bastard” knowledge experienced through the senses.
The relation to this week’s Junto, perhaps, is that at some point the organs of perception must relinquish to a higher judgment of truth. “When the bastard can no longer see any smaller,” he is said to have written, “finer matters have to be examined.” Perhaps it’s a lack of trust that compels humans to fill the space between atoms (facts) with rhetorical explanations (opinions).
For this weirdly jaunty piece, Suss Müsik sought to explore the spatial relationship between “legitimate” and “bastard” sound treatments. A simple riff for piano, acoustic bass and drums (facts) inhabits varying spatial dimensions, while Moog synth and glitch effects (opinions) alternately serve as structure and ornamentation.
The piece is titled Eidos, the Greek word for “form” to describe an idealized representation of a concept, person or thing. The image is an elevator in Toronto.
