Mystery 151 A Rave Down Below
From November 18 to January 28, 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture presents the group exhibition Mystery 151 A Rave Down Below featuring the participation of acclaimed artists from Greece and abroad and showcasing a series of new productions, curated by Panos Giannikopoulos.
Mystery 151 A Rave Down Below explores the political dynamics of the body in motion from a simultaneously geological and cultural underground point of departure. Alchemical wanderings from the historical past towards mythology and a post-industrial present culminate in a delirious dance. Inebriation, intoxication, revulsion, euphoria, release, vent, and ascent; a circular path from the body to the ground and back again.
The exhibition’s narrative unfolds through the myths and history of the city of Elefsina and its Mysteries, with dance serving as a means of climax, a sacred ritual, and a method for exploring concepts of death and loss. In Mystery 151 A Rave Down Below, we witness dance and its affinity with the ailing body or even itself as illness and therapy, dance in a state of crisis, as exhaustion that brings pleasure displacing social exhaustion, as escape and counteraction.
The sculptural works of the 'Travelers' series by Lito Kattou introduce
us to bodies in frontal flatness. The 'Travelers' are formed as a mesh of
human, technological and physical parts, which come together to create
beings that could represent a new form of existence. They bring with
them objects, fragments of architecture, ruins or votives from their
past homes. They resemble both figures from the myths of the past and
those associated with another futurity. The basket returns to Kattou's
iconography as an object that escapes the two-dimensional
representation. It inevitably brings up "The Carrier-Bag Theory of
Fiction" (see Dancing at the Edge of the World, 1989) referencing
Elizabeth Fisher. If we change the objects of the beginning of history
from weapons to containers, our gendered perception of the world
changes as well. Narratives, escaping traditional androcentric
notions, can be seen as a form of knowledge collection and
preservation, underscoring the importance of non-linear structures. At
the same time, the figures carry fabrics on their bodies that unfold
and transform into shelters and roofs. These structures offer
protection for their movements under the light, which significantly
reduces their volume into shadows and weightless presences. Sheltering
ceases to have a fixed character, as the forms incorporate it within
their processes of spatial adaptation, descent, and ascent. The
Travelers appear to be in a constant state of relocation, collecting
stories and embarking on endless wanderings, displacements in
space-times that are indeterminate and fluid.
Words by Panos Giannikopoulos.
Mystery 151 A Rave Down Below explores the political dynamics of the body in motion from a simultaneously geological and cultural underground point of departure. Alchemical wanderings from the historical past towards mythology and a post-industrial present culminate in a delirious dance. Inebriation, intoxication, revulsion, euphoria, release, vent, and ascent; a circular path from the body to the ground and back again.
The exhibition’s narrative unfolds through the myths and history of the city of Elefsina and its Mysteries, with dance serving as a means of climax, a sacred ritual, and a method for exploring concepts of death and loss. In Mystery 151 A Rave Down Below, we witness dance and its affinity with the ailing body or even itself as illness and therapy, dance in a state of crisis, as exhaustion that brings pleasure displacing social exhaustion, as escape and counteraction.
The sculptural works of the 'Travelers' series by Lito Kattou introduce
us to bodies in frontal flatness. The 'Travelers' are formed as a mesh of
human, technological and physical parts, which come together to create
beings that could represent a new form of existence. They bring with
them objects, fragments of architecture, ruins or votives from their
past homes. They resemble both figures from the myths of the past and
those associated with another futurity. The basket returns to Kattou's
iconography as an object that escapes the two-dimensional
representation. It inevitably brings up "The Carrier-Bag Theory of
Fiction" (see Dancing at the Edge of the World, 1989) referencing
Elizabeth Fisher. If we change the objects of the beginning of history
from weapons to containers, our gendered perception of the world
changes as well. Narratives, escaping traditional androcentric
notions, can be seen as a form of knowledge collection and
preservation, underscoring the importance of non-linear structures. At
the same time, the figures carry fabrics on their bodies that unfold
and transform into shelters and roofs. These structures offer
protection for their movements under the light, which significantly
reduces their volume into shadows and weightless presences. Sheltering
ceases to have a fixed character, as the forms incorporate it within
their processes of spatial adaptation, descent, and ascent. The
Travelers appear to be in a constant state of relocation, collecting
stories and embarking on endless wanderings, displacements in
space-times that are indeterminate and fluid.
Words by Panos Giannikopoulos.
