The Writing on the Wall*                                                                            *with no trace of ornament                                                     

The entire 60 second duration of The Writing on the Wall corresponds to over a thousand years of Roman history; from the beginning of the Republic, through the Empire, eventually culminating in the collapse of Western Roman civilization… a civilization that is an antecedent of our own society and culture. This piece (which was featured in the 2007 Pixilerations exhibit) opens with the name of the eponymous founder and first king of Rome, Romulus, who according to legend ruled in 717 B.C.E. Midway through the Roman historical narrative, Augustus arrives, the first emperor. The Western Empire finally collapses in 476 C.E. under the reign of Romulus Augustus. It is an interesting and perhaps meaningful coincidence that the name of the last ruler of Rome is a synthesis of the first two… a dialectical synchronicity...thesis, the thesis restated in a similar yet different way, and a synthesis… a beginning, middle, and end.