Mystery 15 The Living Museum, the emblematic exhibition by Vana Xenou that highlights Elefsina as an open museum and a timeless urban sanctuary, is extended until 30 June 2025, due to its great success. The exhibition will continue to be presented at IRIS – until 22 June – and at the archaeological site of Elefsina, attracting hundreds of visitors from both the city and Athens.
At the same time, activities such as open guided tours for the public by the acclaimed visual artist herself, as well as educational tours for schools and local associations, are being organized.
This multifaceted work, which combines research methodology and archival synthesis, artistic practice, and design approaches, invites the viewer to experience the transition from melancholy to vision, from the ruined present to a place of spiritual awakening.
Evocative creations such as the dominant sculptural figure of Persephone – the Maiden, the large-scale honymous painting, the installation Eleusis with 26 bronze sculptures, and Ancestors in the Depths of Mythical Thought, shape kinships and continuities. The real and the mythical, descent and emergence, death and transformation, the sacred and the initiatory, lead to an experience of initiation.
The research focuses on the long journey of the Eleusinian Mysteries, highlighting the historical and mythical fragments that compose the natural, cultural, and anthropological identity of the city. The spectacular or large-scale sculptures exhibited in symbolically significant locations both in Greece and abroad, along with powerful new works, spatial constructions, landmarks, and architectural designs, do not propose a static reading of the city; rather, they invite the viewer to undergo a transition from melancholy to vision, from the ruined present to a place of spiritual awakening.
The proposed spatial installations and landmarks connect temporal junctions of different eras, offering the visitor a modern flâneur, an immersive journey.
Information
Exhibition Duration: until Monday 30 June 2025
Location: IRIS
Opening Hours – IRIS:
Wednesday to Friday: 18:00 – 21:00
Saturday and Sunday: 13:00 – 21:00
Free Admission
Supported by the Ephorate of Antiquities of West Attica
Mystery 15 – The Open Museum is implemented within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece 2.0, with funding from the European Union – Next Generation EU.
