The Beforelight artistic lighting team created, in the framework of 2023 Eleusis, Mystery 404 Perasman, a visual lighting installation in the Pontian neighborhood of Elefsina. An installation that illuminates in a unique way an important part of the rich mosaic of Elefsina and completes the list of 21 permanent works in its public space.
This is the third, in a row, lighting installation of the group after Mystery 4 Light Sgraffito and Mystery 48 Constellations in the neighborhood of Agia Markella and the IRIS factory, respectively. All three lighting interventions are the result of participatory design through Beforelight’s workshops with local cultural associations and communities of Elefsina, whose stories were the source of inspiration.
For the creation of the lighting installation Mystery 404 Perasman, the team came into contact, through the realization of 4 workshops, with the Association of Pontians of Elefsina “Nea Trapezounta”, and they also met the residents of the neighborhood, who shared with them their experiences. The history of the Pontians, after all, is a narrative full of constant transitions and difficult crossings. The intense memories of their journey from Caucasus to Elefsina, which the people of the community narrated in a very moving way, were the reference point of this bright constellation that adorns the urban fabric of Elefsina.
Mystery 404 Perasman in the Pontian dialect means “route” and it symbolizes this continuous transition which has been transmuted into an image and an experience. Next to the Oasis – former campsite, 48 light poles are placed, forming the constellation of Argo in plan view, with an original reference to the myth of the Argonautic campaign, the passage of the Clashing Rocks and the colonization of the Greeks on the Bosphorus. The installation creates a series of luminous passages in disorderly, irregular arrangements, such as refugee movements, and now marks a different experience of ‘passing’ from one life to another, from Then to Now.
Beforelight group
Beforelight is a nine-member group created to experiment with light and its applications in open public spaces. Since 2007, it has presented its light interventions (installations) at urban open spaces in Athens, Thessaloniki, Volos, Chania, Rotterdam and Maastricht. The group’s projects were presented as part of the 2nd and 4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art and were also hosted at the Action Field Kodra, Video Art Athens, Street Festival of Thessaloniki Film Festival, Folklife & Ethnological Museum of Thessaloniki, Rotterdam Museum Night, the Benaki Museum Café, Theocharakis Foundation and the foyer of the Akropolis Museum.
The group comprises the following members: Elisa Alexandropoulou, Christina Ampatzidou, Konstantina Evangelou, Kelly Efraimidou, Dimitris Theocharoudis, Maria Lazaridou, Vasilis Dovros, Eirini Steirou.
A few words about Mystery 4 Light Sgrafitto
The original lighting installation Light Sgraffito is the result of participatory design in workshops with residents of Elefsina, drawing inspiration from the anthropological and folk traditions of the island of Chios, particularly from the medieval technique known as “Xysta.”
A few words about Mystery 48 Photosynaxes
Five years after the creation of the installation Photosynaxis in Ano Elefsina, pre-existing and new lighting elements will appear in a novel composition forming an illuminated mural in the area of the IRIS factory, as part of a process contributing to its creative reuse.
