The Language of Art

How do you communicate the essence of a civilization to a being that may not share any common frame of reference? The city realized that mathematics, the language of their initial exchange, was too sterile. It could convey logic, but not emotion. It could describe a network, but not the consciousness that inhabited it. They decided that their self-portrait would not be a data file or a historical record, but a work of art. It would be a symphony of light and sound, a sculpture of pure information, a story told in a language of their own creation. The piece would be designed to be experienced, not just understood. It would be a resonant artifact, a piece of their collective soul that would travel the void and, hopefully, find a kindred spirit. The creation of this work became the city’s new grand project, a collaborative effort that united the Gardeners and the Listeners, the pragmatists and the philosophers, in a shared act of creation.