Tiny Talks is an interview series with Tiny Spoon’s talented contributors. This week we spoke with Radoslav Rochallyi from our tenth issue.

Tiny Spoon: What kindles your creativity?
Radoslav Rochallyi: I am not an author who writes continuously. I always need a muse. I’ve been looking for a reliable formula to summon creativity all my life, but I haven’t found it yet. Creativity comes on its own without invitation. But once I have it, I can’t stop. For example, I wrote the entire Mythra Invictus prose book in 38 hours over two days.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any artists/ heroines/ idols/ friends that you look up to?
Radoslav Rochallyi: I have a degree in philosophy and some courses in art, math, statistics, painting, etc. But I always go back to my basics, which are in philosophy. I look up to the philosopher Nietzsche for his mad intellectual courage. I look up to the mathematician Hardy for his discovery of light in his resignation. I look up to the physicist Tegmark for his brazen cosmology, specifically describing physical reality as a mathematical structure. So, to sum it up, I look up to the courage of those who stand up and say: All of you standing here are wrong!

Tiny Spoon: Are there any natural entities that move your work?
Radoslav Rochallyi: Nature? Plants? The animals? The earth? The sun? The universe? Of course, as a person, everything I encounter inspires me. On the other hand, I am interested in natural abstractions, symbols, and relationships. For example, I am currently fascinated by vector and topological objects. And in recent years, I have been particularly fascinated by the discovery of relationships between temporal and spatial vectors and the possibilities of connections with syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Tiny Spoon: We love insight into the creative process. Could you share what it is like for you, either with your work that appears in Tiny Spoon or in general?
Radoslav Rochallyi: In a way, my creative process is a ritual of creation and destruction. Which enters a coincidence that I do not believe. At a young age, I realized that my head creates more things than it can hold. And I understood that I must destroy what I don’t use. Not to postpone but to destroy. That’s the only way it won’t steal a place in my mind and attention. I have a notebook that I carry with me everywhere. I write every thought, question, and statement that comes to mind and seems interesting to me. In it, I have poetry, philosophy, equations, and patterns, but also analyses, and observations from the world around me. Every year from May, I make a new notebook and burn the old one. Ideas that I don’t use I incinerate. If an idea repeats itself repeatedly, I think about how to deal with it. If I come up with it, a concept, a poem, a short story, a painting, or even a whole book will be created. If I don’t figure it out, it will burn again. It is the same with manuscripts and paintings. Last year I burned 30 of my paintings in one day when I realized I didn’t want to carry them in my head. Only those at the exhibition in Rome and the museum in Budapest survived. It may seem sick to some, but I can’t create it any other way. For me, the new replaces the old just as passionately, and carefree as the old is destroyed.

Tiny Spoon: Do you have any current or future projects that you are working on that you would like to share?
Radoslav Rochallyi: Recently, my interest has shifted from equation poetry to vector poetry. It’s almost May, so this article might be the only one where I’ll say something about it. For me, 2022 and 2023 are the years of answering whether vector poetry can provide an extended visual interpretation of the language unavailable through traditional notation and interpretation. The combination of time, space, movement, and direction can expand all aspects of a text and its meaning. My endeavor aims to investigate the semantics/semiotics of vectors in poetry as a response to the problem of creating meaningful patterns. I believe that Vectors can be used to create a sense of movement in a poem. For example, words can flow smoothly from one to another, creating a sense of rhythm and movement. It can add another layer of meaning to the poem and make it more interesting to explore.

Tiny Spoon: What book, artwork, music, etc., would you recommend to others?
Radoslav Rochallyi: Everything by Nietzsche except what his sister published. Being and Time by Heidegger as a beautiful demonstration of the power of abstraction. Either/Or by Kierkegaard because he was a real Man. A Mathematician’s Apology essay by the mathematician G. H. Hardy is a ticket to the world of aesthetics in mathematics.

Tiny Spoon: Is there anything else you would like others to know about you, your creations, or beyond?
Radoslav Rochallyi: All the free decisions you have made and will make are determined by the mathematical nature of reality. Art and unconditional love are the only ways to turn your back on determinism, at least for a while.
Tiny Spoon: Where can people learn more about what you do?
Radoslav Rochallyi: I have closed all my presentations and accounts. The only thing I kept is Twitter: @RRochallyi.