ET IN ARCADIA
British Museum
Photo Mónica Lou
It was at the end of 2009 when I first came into contact with the Ancient Greece Department of the British Museum. At that time I was participating in a very interesting project with the University of Barcelona, in which some artists with different approaches (drawing, painting, clay modeling, photography, ….), were involved in a rediscovery of the Ancient World through the arts, working from life in the upper level of room 16. This is dedicated to the temple of Apollo Epikouros, which is located in Bassaï (now Turkey) and was designed by the same architect as the Parthenon, Ictinios.
“TV3. Blog Europa. Londres i l’art”
With the necessary permissions to incorporate special lighting, we were able to contemplate and draw the magnificently preserved frieze. The Ancient Greek Department, through Ian Jenkins, allowed us to work there also during the many hours when the room was closed to the public due to its small size. Usually in semi-darkness, in a small room specifically built for them, the sculptures revealed a new story under that powerful light. The dramatic feeling of ancient passions and struggles came alive, it was impossible not to forget the archaeology.
From that first experience at the end of 2009, there were two more trips to complete the series of pastel drawings, and later a more ambitious work of interpretation, which led me to consider large format artworks and lasted more than a year. I called it “The frieze of the Minotaur”.
The results were shown in a first presentation at the University of Cambridge, from January 10 to March 16, 2012, and then in May they were shown again at the European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona, in an exhibition on the occasion of the “First International Conference on the actuality of the classic”, organized by the University of Barcelona (Gracmon) and the museum.
The artistic project, directed by UB professors J.Egea and R. Casanova, and which I also shared with my colleagues Enric Passoles, Adrià Arnau, Israel Ariño, Mónica Lou and Rebeca Mutell, (The Crossing Lab), also had a great theoretical content. This led it to appear in various publications and finally to the edition of a book entirely dedicated to it, which was called “ET IN ARCADIA” and was published by the London publisher East&West Publishing in 2012.
“Et In Arcadia” (east&west Publising, 2012)
Presentation of the Minotaur Frieze at MEAM
“International Conference on the relevance of classics” 2012
