International Society for the Advanced Study of Spacetime



A personal note from Dionisis

'It is my honor and privilege to be associated with the Spacetime Society, both in academic and musical terms. As the time approaches for the Second International Conference of the Society I have already submitted to the society two musical compositions and currently writing an academic paper for our conference.

As a former - but not yet retired - Physicist I have always been intrigued by the nature of spacetime and what that holds for reality itself. As Albert Einstein said, reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Our views on spacetime are shaped and constructed by a variety of elements and the best that we can ever do is represent them in various ways. Mathematics is simply one of these ways to me; a notational schema among others that tries to encapsulate an entire cosmos in a particular manner. There are however other notational schemas and music is one of the most fascinating.

In both of my musical compositions, the instruments have been carefully chosen to denote a fabric of reality which is by necessity elusive. We operate in a world as observers but we can hardly observe ourselves, yet we ourselves, are in a sense, both space and time.

In the Ontology of Spacetime I deal with musical three and four-dimensionality and their interplay. This becomes apparent in various upper notes that alternate between the two. The end of the piece is characteristic in this manner.

Temporary musical antitheses that create a slight feeling of discomfort to the listener denote a planned injection of asymmetry into music as it is also the case in Physics. I have always believed that beauty lies mostly in asymmetric constructs, whatever those may be.

In the Pass of Time I make an effort to project the stringent repetitiveness of time and the same musical background points towards this element. However, despite such a repetitiveness time is also elusive and the harp and flute are there to point towards our feeling of navigating within time in a multitude of ways.’

With my best wishes,
Dionysios S. Demetis