MYTHOS
Atropos
In Greek myth, the strand of one’s life is measured by the Three Fates: Clotho, who spins the thread, Lachesis, who measures its length, and Atropos, who irrevocably cuts it off in death. Atropos looks upon the lifelines of an imagined world. You are invited to use the shears of Atropos to cut any of the threads. The cutting is yours to keep, or you may leave it beneath the work on the floor of the gallery.
Agamemnon
The Greek chieftain Agamemnon assembled an armada in Argos, prepared to sail for the invasion of Troy. But as the flotilla gathered, the winds died. The priests of Artemis determined that the gods required a sacrifice, and that the victim must be Agamemnon’s daughter Iphigenia. Agamemnon did as the priests commanded, the wind returned, and the Greeks sailed for their nine year siege of Troy. In the tenth year the victorious Agamemnon returned home to Iphigenia’s mother, Clytemnestra, who promptly murdered him. Agamemnon traces the king’s life from the sacrifice of Iphigenia to his own death.
Pandora
In Greek myth, the first woman is Pandora, created by Hephaistos at the command of Zeus. She arrives in the mortal world with an ambiguous gift from the gods: a jar or box which she is commanded never to open. Curiosity finally wins, Pandora opens the box, and all the earthly evils are unleashed. But last among them, Hope escapes as well. Pandora depicts the moment of the flood of bad with a tagalong glimmer of hope.
Orpheus and Eurydice
The music of Orpheus was divine, charming all that heard it, including the gods. When his lover Eurydice died, the grieving Orpheus sang and played his way into the underworld, to persuade Hades to release the soul of Eurydice back to the world of the living. The god agrees, but on one condition, that Orpheus not look upon Eurydice until she was fully clear of the gates to the land of the dead. Impatient Orpheus, however, stole a glance at his beloved on the brink of escape, and she sank forever away from him and the world. Orpheus and Eurydice frames the diaphanous Eurydice between the music of Orpheus and her decaying bones.