PersEPHONE, THE RED CARPET

eleusis (greece), 2023 – ongoing

According to Hesiod and then the Homeric hymn to Demeter, Persephone, daughter of Demeter and Zeus, is abducted by Hades, god of the underworld. Ending the drought she had decreed, Demeter persuades Zeus to allow Persephone to return to earth for six months, bringing spring with her. Persephone is therefore the goddess of the underworld and spring. She embodies the idea that death is necessary for rebirth, like a grain of wheat buried in the earth that sprouts into an ear of corn.

A major event in ancient Greece, the Eleusinian Mysteries were a celebration of Persephone and Demeter in particular. The secrets of agriculture were passed down there, in a sacred place that is now the city’s archaeological site.

Since then, Eleusis has become an industrial city, located in the Gulf of Athens between two refineries, a ship graveyard, a cement factory, and a paint factory. The ruins there are also industrial, from a huge weapons factory to an olive oil factory…

As part of ELEUSIS2023 European Capital of Culture, our project “Persephone, the red carpet” invites residents to draw on their unifying myth of Persephone, embodied by a red carpet that connects different neighborhoods, to envision their future together. From an aristocratic symbol, the red carpet is transformed into a democratic symbol that anyone can walk on, move around, or wear like a piece of clothing… From industrial site to archaeological space, from neighborhood of refugees from Asia Minor to Roma neighborhood, the red carpet moves mysteriously during silent processions, accompanied by the trumpet of Andreas Polyzogopoulos. Inspired by the stories of the residents and embracing the specificities of each route, we have created collective performances where the boundary between audience and actor is blurred.

It is said that the gods created humans in their own image. Here, women and men from different backgrounds bring to life a contemporary Persephone, breathing through the soft red carpet an air polluted by the cement industry.

The project, supported by ELEUSIS2023 European Capital of Culture, the French Institute in Paris, and the French Institute in Greece, took place from May 28 to June 28, 2023. It resulted in the homonymous film co-directed with Joshua Olsthoorn. The film was screened on April 15, 2024, at Cine Eleusis to an audience of more than 250 people, the vast majority of whom were residents of Eleusis. Since, it became an object of study on contemporary myths in Greece at Loyola University.

Trailer :