In the last fifteen years, Danai Anesiadou has developed a range of metaphysical and personal concerns into a seductive body of work referencing cinema, occult sciences, Greek antiquity and contemporary affairs. A “21st-century European poster girl for crisis”, her work is highly perceptive to both the political and the invisible fabric of reality. In an effort to comprehend the frenzied circumstances facing humanity at present, Anesiadou looks towards hindu cosmology and its mention of the Kali Yuga. Believed to be the age of iron and darkness, its depiction of an inverted reality—where the inmates are running the asylum, as it were—resonates deeply with her. For her WIELS exhibition titled D POSSESSIONS, Anesiadou attempts to encase the entirety of her material possessions: household objects, shoes and clothes, prized belongings—everything is solidified in exuberant assemblages made from resin or vacuum-sealed in industrial grade packaging. At its core is a desire to rid herself of all personal belongings by transforming them into orgonites. These energy-transforming devices, discovered by the psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957), are meant to capture a cosmic ‘orgone’ current, transmute it into positive life energy and then disperse it. By alchemizing her possessions in this radical way, Anesiadou makes an unequivocal attempt to reshape her own life as well as her surroundings. Whatever we might call her: a ghostbuster, a shaman, or even an exorcist in training, Danai Anesiadou will own nothing and she will be happy. Co-production by WIELS and EMST, Athens Curator: Helena Kritis
Danai Anesiadou: D POSSESSIONS
Location: Avenue Van Volxem, 354, 1190 Forest
