Like Sisyphus, Art has carried its rock up the mountain of time from the first moment a hominid saw its face reflected in water and tried to copy it in the sand. Long before the hubristic Christian tick of the modern cultural clock, people attempted to see themselves in the eyes of other people, to communicate an impression of what they saw, to create some meaning in the futile purpose of life that ends in death. Art is long, life short.
This edition of Scene4 is in no way a comprehensive view of where the "rock" is or how heavy it has become. Rather, it is a gathering of reflections in the eyes of writers and artists who live and create in this time. It is that gathering that interests us to publish this special issue. And this is our guide:
"... At the very end of his long effort measured by skyless space and time without depth, the purpose is achieved. Then Sisyphus watches the stone rush down in a few moments toward that lower world whence he will have to push it up again toward the summit. He goes back down to the plain. It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me. ... Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

Albert Camus - The Myth of Sisyphus

–The Editors