Why Art?
Why Art is a podcast series exploring creativity, meaning, and the human search for truth—across music, literature, philosophy, and beyond.
A Bicerin podcast series, hosted by Edward Breen.
If Something Different is a short, strong sip of ideas, Why Art is a slower exploration of one question that sits beneath them all: why does art exist?
Across this series, we explore art not just as painting or music, but as a fundamental human act.
The process of bringing meaning, emotion, and truth into form. From philosophy and spirituality to music, literature, theatre, and beyond, each episode follows a different thread in the same tapestry.
Because art is not just what we make — it’s how we understand ourselves.
Copyright 2026 - All rights reserved.
Introduction
Why Art? A podcast series by Bicerin Literature - Introduction
Introduction Description
In this introductory episode of Why Art, Edward Breen sets the stage for a wide-ranging exploration into the meaning, purpose, and power of art across human experience.
From ancient linguistic roots to modern creative expression, this episode asks a deceptively simple question: why does art exist at all?
From the linguistic roots of the word (linked to creation and order) to its role in spirituality, philosophy, and modern life, this episode lays the groundwork for a series examining art across music, theatre, literature, and more.
Art is framed as a search for truth: a way to bring meaning, emotion, and structure to human experience.
Blending ideas from ancient traditions to the Enlightenment and contemporary thought, Edward invites listeners to see art not just as aesthetics, but as a fundamental human practice closely tied to creativity, identity, and our need for meaning.
🎧Follow the series to explore how art shapes what it means to be human.
References & Further Reading
Proto-Indo-European language overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language
Sanskrit concept of ṛta: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%B9%9Ata
Latin origins of “art” (artem): https://www.etymonline.com/word/art
Overview of the Enlightenment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment
Romanticism in art:
https://www.britannica.com/art/Romanticism
Art and spirituality (general overview): https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/art-definition/
📚 Explore more literary perspectives and upcoming collaborations:
👉 https://bicerin-literature.co.uk
Produced and hosted by Edward Breen as part of the “Something Different”, a Bicerin podcast network.
Space between the Notes
Episode Description
What is it about music that makes us feel more than ourselves?
In this deeply reflective episode of Why Art by Bicerin, presenter Edward Breen sits down with distinguished British military musician and former Director of Music to the Royal British Legion, Captain David Cole OBE, MVO. From the first moment a young boy hears a brass band and is moved to tears, to the vast emotional architecture of orchestral performance, this conversation explores the unseen forces behind art, music, and human connection.
Move through the mystery of musical emotion—why sound can reach places language cannot—and the strange, immersive “flow state” where time dissolves and only the act of creation remains.
Drawing on a lifetime in music—from the Royal Marines Band Service to conducting at the Royal Albert Hall— David Cole offers rare insight into what it truly means to make music out of black dots.
This episode is not just about music. It’s about what it means to be human.
🔗 References & Further Reading:
- Royal British Legion - David Cole
- Royal Marines Band Service
- Royal Albert Hall
- Philosophy of Music: Suzanne Langer
- Reflections on music & theology (Joseph Ratzinger)
- Flow State theory (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)