The Void Belonging to Created Things uses the six books of Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things as the basis to explore different modes of composition. Developed as part of a longstanding engagement with the poem, the work takes the form of installation and score, each made in response to the book’s structure, its exposition of materialist philosophy, and the poem’s various repetitions. Although the poem remained unfinished at the time of Lucretius’ death, it is generally accepted that the repetitions were not intended to appear so explicitly. However, many of Lucretius’ translators choose to retain them, thereby demonstrating the poet’s process of composition, the interconnections he saw between natural science, ethics and logic, as well as providing a provocative anomaly that can be conducive for creative engagement. The exhibition explores an expanded conception of composition through the placing together of found materials, both as objects and composites, using repetition, insertion, convention and parallels that mirror elements of On the Nature of Things.

The associated score, Fires and Conifers, is available here.