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Mystery 177 Visions from the Underworld


Mystery 177 Visions from the Underworld

Freely borrowing elements from the Eleusinian Mysteries, the group exhibition Visions from the Underworld, curated by The Agprognostic Temple, takes the myth and the secret cult around it as a starting point and way of navigating between parallel universes.

Contributors:

Curatorial Team : The Agprognostic Temple (Dome Wood & Sam Steverlynck)
Executice Production: Andie Chantzi

Participating artists: Danai Anesiadou, Lysandre Begijn, Serene Blumenthal, Kimsooja, Joris Van de Moortel, Shana Moulton, Panos Tsagaris, Filip Vervaet, McCloud Zicmuse, Theodoros

Information:

Free Entrance
Opening: 3/2 at 18:00
Opening Hours: Wednesday to Friday: 17.00 – 21.000, Saturday & Sunday: 12.00 – 20.00 | 4/2: Closed | 5/2: 11.00 – 20.00

Finissage: Saturday, April 8
Unveiling of the “cube of the unknown”: 3.33 p.m.
Performative procession by McCloud Zicmuse: 14.30
Workshop Preparing the Ways: 11.00 – 13.00 | On Saturday April 8, the exhibition will be open from 11.00 to 20.00.

Supported by

Flanders horizontaal naakt

 

The city of Elefsina will always be known for the Eleusinian Mysteries – the most secretive religious rites in ancient Greece, celebrated annually for almost two millennia (1600 BC – 400 AD). Key figures of Antiquity such as Pythagoras, Plato, Aristophanes, and Cicero who participated in the Mysteries described them as the greatest experience of their lives. Anyone who would reveal specific details of the initiation ceremony could be punished by death. Hence, to this day, the exact nature of the events – which consisted of a pilgrimage from Athens to Elefsina and a secret initiation rite – is shrouded in mystery. During the ceremony, the initiates would drink kykeon, a sacred barley-based drink that contained the fungus ergot, often causing hallucinatory effects. The festivities took place to commemorate the return of Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, goddess of agriculture and fertility, after she was abducted by Hades. Vowing to avenge her daughter’s abduction, Demeter rendered the earth sterile, causing drought and famine. As a compromise, Persephone would spend several months with Hades in the underworld – symbolizing the dark, fruitless winter months – and the rest of the year with her mother on Mount Olympus.

Freely borrowing elements from the Eleusinian Mysteries, the group exhibition Visions from the Underworld, curated by The Agprognostic Temple, takes the myth and the secret cult around it as a starting point and way of navigating between parallel universes. It seeks to show the Mysteries’ current-day relevance while opening them up to different voices in a language for the 21st century. The exhibition is set within an architectural construction of a hypercube that references the nearby archaeological site and positions itself between a ruin that could be situated millennia ago or in an indefinable post-apocalyptic future. Once inside, the visitor is invited to embark on a journey of discovery – a symbolic descent to the underworld and back. Throughout the ruins of this Temple, different artworks are dispersed, echoing some of the themes and motives from the Mysteries – the cycle of death and rebirth, fertility and mortality, initiation rites and rituals, hallucinations and visions – as well as a general penchant for the occult, obscure and psychedelic.

Main Image: Lysandre Begijn Uraeustongue, 2022 Acrylic on wood, 100 x 122 cm

Further Info

People - Society
The first axis spans the evolution of society from Antiquity to the present in order to connect the strange with the familiar, to discover hidden aspects, memories and elements of cultural diversity. The thematic axis People | Society focuses on inclusion, the way that European society is shaped and, the ways in which we interact with each other, through the three themes/notions “Europe of Citizens”, “Europe, Daughter of Phoenix” and “Human Mysteries”.
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Mystery 20 Performing Arts Initiator - Narrative Archaeology 2024

Mystery 20 Performing Arts Initiator − Narrative Archaeology, one of the most significant action-models of the 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture programme, returns curated and directed by Gemma Hansson Carbone, in collaboration with Hliana Kaladami, on 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11 & 12 October at the iconic archaeological site of Ancient Eleusis.


Mystery 66 Voices in the city | Open Station - Open Community

2023 Eleusis supports the project «Open Station – Open Community» organized by the youth team of Cultterra, as part of Mystery 66 Voices in the city, every Thursday from 12 September to 19 December at OSE – Elefsina Old Railway Station.


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