TELL ME, O MUSE
“Tell Me, O Muse” (Muze, vertel mij) are the opening words of Homer’s Odyssey. With these words, Homer calls upon the muse—the goddess of the arts—to blow divine inspiration into him with her godly breath, so that he may recount the tale of Odysseus’ voyage. Besides being a wish for inspiration, these words signify the beginning of a long tradition. A tradition in which stories have been told, rewritten, and understood, over and over.
This year, DRIFT embarks on a voyage to the ways in which stories, myths, history, language, and science mediate the human experience of the world as systems of meaning. We examine how, in their many forms, different stories grant meaning to our world. Can we perceive a ‘reality’ that exists outside of our own view? Or is the relationship between humans and the world always mediated?
Plato rejected the arts because of their imitative nature. He argued that art is a copy of the physical world, which itself is already an image of the world of Forms. For Plato, this double mimesis is problematic because it hinders the artist from approaching ultimate reality. In contrast, Aristotle viewed mimesis as an intrinsic human disposition and, therefore, a great source of joy. DRIFT drifts between these two views. We consider both the potential of systems of meaning to obscure reality and humanity’s great penchant for providing meaning to the world through creation.
Peering at the world’s image in the water, the reflection makes space for our own appearance, and we are startled by our own stare. How is the observer influenced by the forms that we place between humans and the world? How much can we shape ourselves through the stories we tell if we were to consider the narrator to be a creator? Who is the ‘I,’ which is formed by the chronology of stories’ happenings? Additionally, which stories, folktales, fairy tales, and myths shape our histories and traditions? Which stories remain in the shadows, unheard or unwritten, waiting for someone to pause and listen?
This year, DRIFT invites you to listen to each other’s stories. We shall search for new forms to capture the world with and seek out where it eludes our notions. To that end we address those first words, tell me, oh Muse, to every muse who may want to listen, so that the muses of science, philosophy, historiography, music, and dance will accompany us during DRIFT. Hence, we sing:
Tell us, O Muses! Inspire us, lovely Muses.
Let your breath transport us.
Teach us how to rewrite the limits of our reality!
Let us build, teach us how to create.
That was that
The muses have been invited
Let’s hope they show up.
