The Eleusinian Projector: Ron Athey’s Post-Porn Mythologies, Memorials, and the launch of t.S/Z

Thursday, April 4
Doors open at 7:30pm, event starts at 8pm

Click here to purchase tickets – $10

Ron Athey, Pasiphäe, Witch Queen of Crete: A Gloryhole Origin Story (still), 2021. HD film, color, sound, 10 min.

A 3,000 years old goddess-projecting camera obscura trick, the revealer of sacred mysteries (The Hierophant), a headless Asclepius, the bestiality of Pasiphäe, mother of the Minotaur, enter The Eleusinian Projector. Taking place will take place in a two-part evening:

Starting with a discussion between Ron Athey and scholar Dominic Johnson, they will screen and discuss video works that can be categorized 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. 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 Johnson, who edited a monograph on Athey’s work in 2013, Pleading in the Blood, and collaborated with Athey for 2007’s Incorruptible Flesh: Perpetual Wound at the Chelsea Theatre. The evening will conclude with t.S/Z: a new sound/action project in line with the concept of a neuro/psych projector by Athey and Christos Tejada, and in collaboration with guest artist Pony Lee.

8-9pm
Part 1: Discussion and Video program:
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

9:30-10pm
Part 2: Performance:
Ron Athey and Christos Tejada present t.S/Z, in collaboration with Pony Lee

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.

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).

Pony Lee is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Pony Lee’s practice weaves together body modification techniques, gender euphoria, BDSM, and sacred symbolism.

Christos Tejada is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Tejada’s practice explores mytho-somatic ritual actions expressed through the body and creates a sensory experience of identity symbolism. Performing since 2015, their audio-visual works have been released by Record Ad Nauseam, Sangrón Records, and Electronic Emergencies in Rotterdam. Most recently, Tejada performed at Highways Performance Space, Human Resources LA, Coaxial, UCLA William Clark Library, and Communitism in Athens.

Photos by Monica Nouwens.