Prometheus Bound
In Greek Mythology, Prometheus stole fire (technology) from Zeus and gave it to humans, and for this, he got crucified on a mountaintop, and had to endure the eternal pain as a punishment. Since the beginning of our civilization, technology has been the source of prosperity and development. But also it has been the cause of great tragedies such as war sand nuclear accidents. Setting the Aeschylus Greek tragedy “Prometheus Bound” as a starting point, Koizumi created VR (Virtual Reality) theater which deals with this age-old tension between humanity and technology, through collaboration with a person who is desperately longing for the technological advancement – a person who is suffering from ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis- the deadly neurological disease that make a person paralyzed). Through the dialogues with the man about his personal life and his visions of the future, they created a sci-fi vision in which past and future, self and others, humans and machines are all merged into one sequence of abstract VR theatrical experience.

Prometheus gebonden
In de Griekse mythologie stal Prometheus vuur (technologie) van Zeus en gaf het aan mensen, en hiervoor werd hij gekruisigd op een bergtop en moest hij de eeuwige pijn als straf ondergaan. Sinds het begin van onze beschaving is technologie de bron van welvaart en ontwikkeling geweest. Maar het is ook de oorzaak geweest van grote tragedies zoals kernongevallen met oorlogszand. Met de Griekse tragedie van Aeschylus “Prometheus Bound” als uitgangspunt, creëerde Koizumi VR-theater (Virtual Reality) dat zich bezighoudt met deze eeuwenoude spanning tussen menselijkheid en technologie, door samenwerking met een persoon die wanhopig verlangt naar de technologische vooruitgang – een persoon die lijdt aan ALS (Amyotrofische Laterale Sclerose – de dodelijke neurologische ziekte die een persoon verlamd maakt). Door de dialogen met de man over zijn persoonlijke leven en zijn visies op de toekomst, creëerden ze een sci-fi visie waarin verleden en toekomst, zelf en anderen, mensen en machines allemaal worden samengevoegd tot één opeenvolging van abstracte VR-theatrale ervaring.

Захаров, Вадим Арисович
danaë installation
Drawing from the perpetually revisited myth of Zeus and Danae, an installation by Vadim Zakharov in the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2013 used consumable objects and the sequence of architectural spaces to make manifest underlying ideas about ‘rudeness, lust, narcissism, demagoguery, falsehood, banality, and greed, cynicism, robbery, speculation, wastefulness, gluttony, seduction, envy, and stupidity.’ the impregation of danae occurs when zeus appears to her as a golden shower after she is locked in a tower to prevent the professed death of her father. gender dynamics and the poetic cycle of gestation are reconstructed spatially with a total use of the pavilion– a first in the history of the building.

Янис Ксенакис
ヤニス·クセナキス
ANTIKHTHON
In 1971, Iannis Xenakis composed a work called Antikhthon. Commissioned by Balanchine for the New York City Ballet, this overwhelming composition refers to a hypothetical planet, proposed in the 5th century BC. by the Pythagorean philosopher Philolaus. “Antichthon” is the name that the Greeks gave to a hypothetical celestial object, the Counter-Earth, located between the Earth and the center of the Universe to prevent man from looking directly at Zeus, who had his throne there.

Empyrean: In ancient cosmologies, the Empyrean Heaven, or simply the Empyrean, was the place in the highest heaven, which was supposed to be occupied by the element of fire (or aether in Aristotle’s natural philosophy). The word derives from the Medieval Latin empyreus, an adaptation of the Ancient Greek empyros (ἔμπυρος), meaning “in or on the fire (pyr)”

Empyreum  (The Divine Comedy, Gustave Doré )

The Empyrean was thus used as a name for the firmament, and in Christian literature for the dwelling-place of God, the blessed, celestial beings so divine they are made of pure light, and the source of light and creation. Notably, at the very end of Dante’s Paradiso, Dante visits God in the Empyrean.