The Oldest Song We Know

2007

The Oldest Song We Know is single channel video, a series of four large-scale photographs and a site-specific installation.

Filmed underwater off the Greek island of Tzia, The Oldest Song We Know features a model — consisting of buildings from every major American city — sinking in the sea. Six people in white pull the sunken city on a fishing line through the Aegean.

The soundtrack is a rendition of the Epitaph of Seikilos, the oldest known musical composition with lyrics, dated around 200 BC. The song is inscribed on a tombstone found in modern Turkey in the late 1800s. The lyrics are While you live, shine / Don't suffer anything at all / Life exists only a short while / And time demands its toll.