Sybil

>video installation

with Marga Ximenez

Myths remain unaltered, but their form and their interpretation varies over the centuries, And it is in this continuous narrative transformation that the last sense of their meaning is hidden.
Originally, myths are revelation, and, like the revelation it is, the myth of the Sybils (who themselves reveal) is the materialisation of revelation itself, a body of epiphany.
Though inclined towards reason, the Greek spirit recognised the limits of intellect, making the figure of the Sybils the enigma of all mysteries. Such responsibility left these women exhausted and incapable of fulfilling any other function.  Abandoning herself to sleep, the Sybil of Delphos always awoke sobbing every time she was called by the journey of the senses. The Sybil of Cumae wandered, condemned for her unconsciousness, ageing almost eternally and harbouring only one desire: the rest that death would bring for her. Because these priestesses of Zeus, gifted but abused by the gods for having faithfully accepted the role they had assigned to them, were often accompanied by a desire for death, maintaining the purity that made them an unpolluted vessel for collective memory.
The story of the Sybils appears to reflect our incapability of recognising ourselves in the mystery of oblivion.
According to Emilio Lledó, our contemporary history is an invitation to "dememorise", because we fear experience and learning. Ultimately we fear learning our lesson, submerging ourselves in the oblivion of the fount of death, absence and emptiness.
The myth of the Sybil transcends time and comes down to us, via the spirit of the lost, as the legend of a wise organiser of memory - the memory of ethics and the true revelation: the present is appearance, the past is experience and the future depends only on our lucid understanding.

Exhibited at:

La interior bodega – Espai de flux. 2004 Barcelona

SKC. 2005 Belgrade. Serbia-Montenegro

Zenit Gallery, 2006, Copenhagen. Denmark

Videographic Action Cycle 2006 Tàrrega

#paratodestode Centro Cultural Kirchner (CCK). 2020 Buenos Aires

Interview by Gabrijel Savic Ra