MoKE director: Vassilis Vlastaras

25.06.15 – 11.07.15

This exhibition is a presentation of projects produced in the framework of the workshop “Old and contemporary forms of Gnosis and Gnosticism.” The workshop was realized under the auspices of the Unit of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ΜοΚΕ) of the Athens School of Fine Arts with the participation of students, graduates and postgraduates. The workshop studied historical and contemporary forms of a particular apocalyptic attitude towards social reality that tends to interpret the world as a creation of radically evil forces – as a “system” of invisible orders of governance.
The approach included presentations, textual analysis, study of bibliography, extensive discussions on paradigms etc. The group studied various philosophical, religious and social examples, from different periods of history. The emergence of ancient Gnosticism, in the early centuries of Christianity, was a crucial reference since it marked the birth of the idea that the ancient “cosmos” is the creation of an evil god – a labyrinthine cell that operates as a trap for the human spirit. In gnostic cosmology, “Knowledge” (gnosis) is the secret truth that reveals the “great fraud”, the structure of the “system”, the “heimarmene” (our dismal destiny). An equally important period of study was the aftermath of the French Revolution and the rise of “antimasonism” in counterrevolutionary literature, which saw the Revolution as a “satanic” parenthesis to Monarchy. We examined the relationship between the demonization of Freemasonry and the formation of modern antisemitism and, also, the popularization of its myths. Particular emphasis was given to the European anti-semitic tendencies that informed the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” forgery in the early 20th century Russia and the circulation of the text up until the present. Furthermore, the discussion focused on conspiracy theories preached by the contemporary American libertarian Right, and the latter’s presence in contemporary social movements: the “Against the Fed” Movement, the “Zeitgeist”, the belief in UFO and reptilians, theories about the obscure plans of the International Pharmaceutical Association and other contemporary narratives were discussed.

The exhibition asks: what happens when conspiracy theories stop being marginal and become hegemonic exigencies? We are invited to stop describing the phenomenon as a mere lack of rationality and examine the ways people embrace worldviews that offer vital motivation and pleasure. The projects presented at the show shed light on a variety of paranoid agendas: 80s urban legends, satanist practices, clandestine national narratives, heterodox belief systems, messianic scenarios, mysteries of urban space, paramedic practices, associative interpretations. The participants are students of Fine Arts, graduates, postgraduates, and non-ASFA artists.