Orpheus

Wanderwelle, Orpheus, excerpt, b&w, sound, courtesy the artists

After Orpheus’s failed attempt to retrieve his wife Eurydice from the underworld, he wandered the earth in deep mourning whilst rejecting the company of women. This rejection angered the Maenads, who were devotees of Dionysus and felt spurned by Orpheus’s refusal to honor their god.

The Maenads attacked Orpheus during one of their rituals, tore him to pieces with their bare hands and scattered his limbs and head. Orpheus’s head, and lyre, were said to have floated down the river Hebrus, still singing mournful songs of lost love. It eventually washed ashore on the island of Lesbos, where the head continued to sing until it was finally buried by the Muses. According to some accounts, the head retained its ability to prophesy even after death.

The video installation depicts Orpheus’s head as a reminder of the fragility of our own memory. As it floats away, receding into the haze of distant recollection of myths and legends, the head becomes a vessel of the passage of time, slipping through our grasp like wisps of smoke. A feeling amplified by the use of reassembled, grainy, archival footage.

The image of Orpheus’s head floating down the river is a vivid and evocative one, often depicted in various works of art inspired by the myth. It captures the tragic beauty and the enduring legacy of Orpheus as a figure of profound sorrow and longing.

Date
2023

Medium
Analogue film transferred to digital video (b/w, sound)

Duration
6:40 min.