Janiculum / 2017
For the past several months now we have found ourselves in working against an assault on the dominant methods of determining the truth. Though this struggle is eternal and never ending, usually these battles happen in covert ways, more the undermining and erecting of conceptual edifices, and less in the form of an all-out assault on reality as we see happening today.
In thinking about our current epistemological pickle, as well as the otherwise dicey situation the American empire is in, I can't help but look to history and to think about the western world’s most spectacular leviathan: Rome.
There, in its ancient days, the homegrown method of determining the will of the gods (aka ultimate truth) was through watching the flight patterns of birds. This practice, called augury, was centered on a hill in the city of Rome. While Janiculum wasn’t one of the famed seven hills, it did serve as the home for the temple of Janus, the god of beginnings, endings, doorways, and gates.
As distant as this is from the measures of truth to which we are now accustomed, at the moment it seems just as good as any we might grab on to at this point. In any case, our current means of accessing the truth seems inadequate.
All of which is not to suggest embracing cynical nihilism as we witness previously solid foundations eroding. Rather, it is a call to realign in defense of truth as the seat of supreme influence. The truth matters not because it's true, but because determining what is true is the ultimate game of power.
In thinking about our current epistemological pickle, as well as the otherwise dicey situation the American empire is in, I can't help but look to history and to think about the western world’s most spectacular leviathan: Rome.
There, in its ancient days, the homegrown method of determining the will of the gods (aka ultimate truth) was through watching the flight patterns of birds. This practice, called augury, was centered on a hill in the city of Rome. While Janiculum wasn’t one of the famed seven hills, it did serve as the home for the temple of Janus, the god of beginnings, endings, doorways, and gates.
As distant as this is from the measures of truth to which we are now accustomed, at the moment it seems just as good as any we might grab on to at this point. In any case, our current means of accessing the truth seems inadequate.
All of which is not to suggest embracing cynical nihilism as we witness previously solid foundations eroding. Rather, it is a call to realign in defense of truth as the seat of supreme influence. The truth matters not because it's true, but because determining what is true is the ultimate game of power.
Shown at Joe Bar Cafe, May 2017.
Opening reception: Thursday, May 11, 6-9pm