Mystery 20 Performing Arts Initiator – Narrative Archaeology

In the same context, a conference entitled “Narrative Archaeology | Performance in archaeological sites and excavation of human experience” is being organised for the first time on 29 and 30 March, at the Old Oil Mill Factory of Elefsina, with the main aim of encouraging interdisciplinary dialogue between the fields of Arts and Archaeology. More information and registration here.

In close collaboration with the archaeologists working at the archaeological site of Ancient Eleusis, the members of the permanent Mystery 20 Performing Arts Initiator – Narrative Archaeology working group and new collaborators selected following the Open Call by 2023 Eleusis present this March the fruit of a long evolutionary process that began in February 2022, with a performance/on-site interaction with this iconic landscape in the city. The history of the archaeological site of Ancient Eleusis meets the present of this tour, which is constantly reconfigured, regenerated and evolving, transcending the conventions of temporality.

Drawing upon the performing arts, this innovative activity explores the concealed Narrative of the archaeological landscape, transforming scientific information into an experience for the visitor. Through movement, sound, music and new media, in this “performance of the narrative” the characters guide the audience on a visit to the silent presence of the Past as a living body.

A few words about Mystery 20 Performing Arts Initiator – Narrative Archaeology

Mystery 20 Performing Arts Initiator – Narrative Archaeology is a Legacy Project of 2023 Eleusis, which continues, after the end of the year of the title, as methodology – model. Approaching methodological tools of artistic and research projects that have been successfully carried out in Italy under the curatorship and artistic direction of Michail Marmarinos, in collaboration with the Archaeological Society of Florence and the city’s National Archaeological Museum, artists-researchers from different fields of Arts and Sciences embarked on a long evolutionary process in the context of an on-site conversation with the archaeological site of Elefsina, in close cooperation with the archaeologists working there. In the framework of the European Capital of Culture, this prominent site is creating a model field of encounter between Arts and Archaeology, aiming to become an example of applied methodology for other cultural heritage sites in Greece and beyond. For more information: 2023eleusis.eu.

Mystery 20 Performing Arts Initiator − Narrative Archaeology seeks the answers to two fundamental questions: 

Why do we visit an archaeological site today?

What do we seek there among the ruins?

The action is governed by the following principles:

• Every archaeological site is a Necropolis
• Every archaeological site is still, mute, silent
• Archaeology is the science of human history
• Theatre is an art about human history

Ultimately, every visit to an archaeological site is a Νekyia – a voyage of Odysseus to the realm of shadows. In the context of this particular action, artists-researchers from various fields of arts, humanities and archaeology utilize methodological tools from artistic and research projects in an interdisciplinary art project – a work in progress that could be called Narrative Archaeology: “Ways of highlighting the interactivity of archaeological sites with the help of the Performing Arts”