Vision of Creation

As authors, Ella-Jenna and Johan originally positioned the poem "Vergankelijkheid of(or) the Passing" as a "Polyglot Semiotic Poem".

In recent years, many Chinese symbologists have begun to reflect on the existing Western theoretical path of philocentrism and pragmatism, and, taking into account the specificity of traditional Chinese symbology resources, have attempted to clarify the concept and scope of 'symbols' by proposing the 'integration of Langue and Image.' This has certainly drawn our attention, sharing a common and coherent ground in the research of literature and linguistics.

 

In following the explorations and inquiries of various scholars and researchers, we attempted to create experimental poetry but from a practical perspective. The idea of "synthesis of speech and image" is a symbolic concept that implicitly and externally binds together multiple heterogeneous speech images that cross borders and complement one another. In the context of the piece Requiem in D minor, Opus 48 (1887-1890), we wrote an organic experimental poem combining visual, phonetic, and symbolic meanings and imagery of 'passing' in natural and constructed language through five languages.

In this experimental poem, we marvelled at a universal medium of meaning and connotation that can be grasped in a specific language across cultures and languages. As the images converge, a lively sense of linguistic pleasure and rhythm emerges, and the not-quite-reciprocal differences leave traces and meanings of their own languages. Our thinking about things, in their pluralism, takes on a coherent and even interlocking flow of semantics - a dynamic movement of tension - in the non-linear expression of symbols. And the phonetic features and rhythms of words bounce coincidentally and harmoniously from lip to lip - cleverly arranged. The chanting of notes in the lines of the poem, sinking into the lake of meaning through the voices of me and you, free flow flowing freely.

​

​

​

​

Explanation and Interpretation of the Poem

​

Ella-Jenna Oosterglorenwoud 陳佳媛, Johannes Ferdinand Hoorn

H香NG K港NG

​

In resting on Chinese Pǔtōnghuà, English, Dutch, Latin, French, and programming language, Vergankelijkheid of 逝 is an intercultural piece of art that combines poetry made by human hand with artificially generated art and soundscapes. The work comments on Requiem in D minor, Opus 48 (1887-1890) by the French composer Gabriel Fauré. In Catholic culture, a requiem is a mass for choir and orchestra to commemorate the deceased, using lyrics derived from the Latin translation of the Bible. Fauré’s Requiem speaks of ever-lasting quietness and solace.

 

​

The title

Vergankelijkheid | A word from the Dutch that means ‘transience’ and that roots in the word for ‘to go.’

of | In Dutch, ‘of’ means ‘or’ (as in ‘one or the other’) and would translate here as ‘also known as.’ In English, however, ‘of’ is a preposition indicating ‘belonging’ as in ‘a part of me.’

逝 | In Chinese, this character means ‘pass away’ or ‘transience’ (cf. the ‘foot’ radical: 辶). In the Dutch reading, the title says ‘Transience, or: passing away;’ in English, however, it is about the passing away of transience itself, a double fade-out? Or the eradication of fading away and being brought to live again?

 

​

First verse

Onderaards     | Dutch for ‘under the ground’ but it has a darker tone than the English. Under the earth also lingers the realm of the dead, the underworld, uncommonly deep, mysterious and bloodcurdling.

土oo 壤oung | Pronounce 土tǔ 壤rǎng (in Pǔtōnghuà) as ‘too yaahng’ and in doing so it becomes homophone with ‘too young.’ The character 土 for ‘earth’ or ‘soil’ also looks like a Christian cross put into the ground to mark a grave and its form is reminiscent of the letter T or t as in Too or too.

†o die              | Replacing the letter t, the symbol † represents a dagger (刀) or sometimes a Christian cross. It is also used as a symbol that indicates a footnote (辶 again?). After you die, you become a footnote in the memory of the people?

in de kǒu         | Dutch, meaning ‘in the cold.’ The catch is in the ǒ, which in Dutch is written without the diacritics. In Pin-yin spelling of Chinese Pǔtōnghuà, however, ‘kǒu’ means ‘mouth’ (口) and is homonym with the Dutch word for ‘cold.’

of m口uth      | The chill that is in the mouth (of those who are dead).

of early earth   | Youth – mouth – earth. Note the full rhyme of ‘ear’ and ‘ear’ in ‘early earth.’ Sometimes the addition 阝to a Chinese character is called ‘an ear,’ so you better listen well when youth is burried cold in the mouth of the earth, when youth has a mouth full of earth, being dead.

Bovenmaans   | Dutch. Above or beyond the moon. Like ‘onderaards’ en ‘vergankelijkheid,’ it is a poetic and solemn word, indicating the celestial heavens where the soul travels once the body deceased. Bovenmaans stands in stark contrast to Onderaards. ‘Boven’ (above) is the opposite of ‘Onder’ (under). ‘Maan’ (moon) is contrasted with ‘aards’ (Earth). However, the placement on the page of Onderaards (under the earth) is above Bovenmaans (above the moon); hence, up is down and down is up in an eternal loop of being burried and going to heaven.

 

​

Second verse

Ouroboros sleeps         | Snake (or dragon) biting its tail like an O, devouring itself and being reborn from itself. An eternal loop Q of rest and awakening.

indistinguishability obfuscation | Much like (our) hermetic poetry, computer programmers complicate their code to hide its function. This secret of the source code is called ‘obfuscation.’ Through obscurity, difficult statements, convoluted expressions, the origins of the programme are protected and secured. Software may be used but without knowing its implementation. One may run his life without knowing what is driving him. Obfuscation of life’s secret avoids tampering with it, just live it, don’t try to reengineer. When two procedures are obfuscated such that they become indistinguishable, we entered cryptographer’s paradise: Humans cannot distinguish the different pieces of source code from one another and the source is ultimately secured. The source of life encrypted in a burial chamber of indistinguishability obfuscation.

I/O impermanence       | Indistinguishability obfuscation is abbreviated as IO. With a slash forward inserted, it becomes the abbreviation for Input/Output. In or out of life is indistinguishably obfuscated. No state is permanent, each state is transcient. Onderaards, bovenmaans, impermanence.

 

​

Third verse

In youth, inertia                       | Youth commonly is associated with activity and liveliness. We often find also that being young is soiled by mental paralysis, indecisiveness, and being perplexed, by suicidal ideation even. Many young people sit still in their rooms, not moving, watching their telephones, waiting for ‘something to happen.’

the 阝lack side of the m月n   | 阴 (yīn), the back side of things, the moon (月). The back side of the moon is the black side of the moon and seems stationary from an Earth’s perspective. It’s back side is only seldom seen as the moon seems not to turn around its axis although it does so slowly.

Monument and memento         | 阴 (yīn) may also indicate a monument, like a grave can be or can have. The Western Medieval motto of Memento Mori stems from a Latin philosophy of impermanence, spiritual improvement, and denouncing vanity; a reminder that all will die and that life on Earth is but a transient moment of suffering, a preparation for Heaven’s afterlife (if one lives well that is).

of stille blaadjesregen              | Again, the word ‘of’ takes a different meaning, dependent of the Dutch or the English. The Dutch word ‘stille’ means ‘silent’ and ‘blaadjesregen’ consists of two words: small leaves (葉) and rain (雨), something we see in autumn when the trees shed their leaves.

 

Fourth verse

Stilleven vanitatum                  | In the Latin translation of the Bible, ‘vanitas vanitatum’ or vanity of vanities is the opening of an exclamation by the Preacher that all worldy effort, strive, and possessions are futile and in vain: Memento Mori. In the Dutch 17th century, vanitas paintings often depicted a still live (stilleven) of a human skull on the table, moths near a candle flame, or a done dinner with left-overs on a plate. The standard expression ‘vanitas vanitatum’ forces the word ‘stilleven’ to represent the ‘vanitas.’

 

Fifth verse

Ròuw om het rauwe vlees        | Ròu in Pin-yin spelling of Chinese Pǔtōnghuà means flesh or meat (肉). The pronunciation is homophone with two words in Dutch: rouw (to mourn) and rauw (raw, as in raw flesh). In ancient Dutch (Diets), the diphtongues ou and au denoted different sounds but currently, the two words create a full rhyme: Mourn the raw flesh… and three times hearing ròu, ròu, ròu seems like a beast roaring… for flesh.

in 雨                                        | The Chinese character for rain (雨) is a cloud in the sky from which four rain drops fall. In the orthography of the poem, these four diǎn strokes are replaced by autumn leaves. Blaadjesregen.

Herfst Forest of Fauré              | Herfst is Dutch for autumn. It has as many letters as the word Forest and shares four of its consonants, together sounding like leaves rustling in the wind, exactly like Fauré’s tranquil Nocturnes, his romantic depictions of nightly scenes. The French name Fauré is derived from the Latin ‘faber:’ smith, artificer, forger, maker. In the end, all reverses back to our creator.

​

 

The artwork

The artwork in the background has been AI-generated and resembles a Christian cross placed on a grave or the basic stroke of the foot 辶 in the Chinese title 逝 or perhaps it is just a hasty calligraphy of 土. We do not know because all language of genetic algorithm and AI is empty inside, obfuscating their meaning indistinguishably, like a man in a Chinese room responding to the world outside.