The Eleusinian Projector: Screening & Discussion with Ron Athey
- Time and Date
- 27 Oct 2024
- Venue
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).
Doors open at 3.30pm
- Location
BLOC cinema, Queen Mary University
- Address
Mile End Road, London E1 4PA
- Price
- Free but please RSVP
In the new BLOC cinema, LADA and QMUL present a discussion between Ron Athey and long-time friend and collaborator, Dominic Johnson. The two will screen and discuss video works that can be categorised as Mythological Post-Porn. Post-porn is initially defined in Athey’s 1995 Deliverance, wherein he is penetrated on a 9-minute double-dildo ride, while reading an almost-comical text about virtue grandstanding and HIV reinfection. Ron Athey followed this work with the solo performances Solar Anus and Self Obliteration, and is currently working with the myths of Pasiphae, Daedalus, and Asclepius.
All this and more will be discussed with Dominic Johnson, who edited the monograph on Athey’s work Pleading in the Blood (published by Intellect and Live Art Development Agency in 2013), and collaborated with him for the performance Incorruptible Flesh: Perpetual Wound (2017) at the Chelsea Theatre.
Screening programme
I. Entering the Forest of Acephale, 2018
Video by Graham Kolbeins, jonjohn version filmed at Mustache
II. Pasiphäe, Witch Queen of Crete: A Gloryhole Origin Story, 2021
Video by Tyler Hubby, filmed at PRS, co-directed with Hermes Pittakos
III. The Hierophant, 2023
Video by Ivan Neri, filmed in Athens, movement direction by Federica Dauri
Join us from 3.30pm for a drinks reception. The screening will begin at 4.00pm, and will be followed by another short reception.
Documentation of Ron Athey’s performances, including Deliverance (1995) and Incorruptible Flesh: Perpetual Wound (2017), is available in LADA’s Study Room.
Ron Athey
Ron Athey has been making performance work since 1981. Self-taught, his is a research-based practice, in topics including esoteric christianity, ecstasis, archetype work, and immersive workshopping. Collaborators past and present include Hermes Pittakos, Opera Povera, Juliana Snapper, Julie Tolentino, Carmina Escobar, and the late Lawrence Steger. Upcoming projects include Athey and Pittakos’ Hierophant Workings. Ron Athey is a LADA Patron.
Dominic Johnson
Dominic Johnson is Professor of Performance and Visual Culture at Queen Mary University of London; and in 2024 he is Fulbright Visiting Professor at Roski School of Art and Design at the University of Southern California. His books include Unlimited Action: The Performance of Extremity in the 1970s (2019) and Pleading in the Blood: The Art and Performances of Ron Athey (2013).
Access Info
BLOC’s access information can be found here.
Banner image credit:
Ron Athey, Solar Anus, 2006. Hayward Gallery, London. Photo by Regis Hertrich.
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