“Fire in the Lake”

Zoumboulakis Galleries is pleased to invite you to the exhibition “Fire in the Lake” by Eleni Mylonas. Along with the central projection of a 13 minute performance-for-the-camera video, the artist will present an in situ installation and photographic works. “Fire in the Lake” is a comprehensive narrative about the enormous impact of Climate Change worldwide.“Fire in the Lake” video was launched online in January 2022 and has been officially selected to participate at the “Vaasa International Wildlife Film Festival” in Finland and the International festival of short films “short to the point” in Budapest.

Mylonas writes: “I walked down to the sea shore to take a swim on an August afternoon and I saw strange objects floating on the surface. I dipped my hand in and brought up a handful of burned wood shards. A thick black pulp was covering the sea as far as the eye could see. It was an alien apocalyptic sight. I photographed and video recorded the scene and I gathered several sacks of black pulp, pine cones, sticks and an assortment of other incinerated objects. I brought this material back to my studio and I created a mandala as a monument to the losses suffered from the wild fires, now a familiar worldwide event. The classification of the objects composing the installation is reminiscent of a museum display or perhaps of a burial ground of fallen soldiers. The work was completed during the performance for the camera coming full circle with the ominous destruction of the mandala itself.”

The video opens with a Sanskrit hymn from Rig Veda sang by Eleni Mylonas to the God Ganesh, who blesses all new beginnings. The chant towards the end, N’at, is an ode to Mohamed sang in Farsi by a traditional Afghan singer, recorded by UNESCO in the 1960s.

The title is borrowed from the oracle of Hexagram #49 of the I Ching

Fire in the lake: The image of Revolution.

Necessary action: Transformation.

Conceived and performed by Eleni Mylonas

Editing and sound design by Stefanos Bertakis

Camera: Theodore Mihopoulos & Stefanos Bertakis

Drone operator: Vassilios Vafeiadis

Color Correction: Giorgos Kolios

Production Assistant: Georgia Lale

Brief CV: Eleni Mylonas is a multidisciplinary artist, her work moves across media and forms. She has had solo exhibitions at MoMA PS1; The BENAKI Museum in Athens; Francoise Heitsch Gallery in Munich; Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Center in Athens; Zoumboulakis Gallery in Athens; Art Recources Transfer and Foundation for Hellenic Culture in New York. Her work has been shown at several Museums and galleries internationally including, the Cooper Union, Queens Museum of Art in New York; Ellis Island Museum in New York, EMST Museum in Athens;  MOMus Museum in Thessaloniki; MMCA in Skopie, Museum Alex Mylona in Athens, Museum of Contemporary Art in Crete; Schorpf Gallery in Chicago and the Belgian Gallery in Nemur, Belgium. Mylona’s work was exhibited in the first Athens Biennale “Destroy Athens”, the Thessaloniki Biennale and Cannakale walk in Oskabruck, Germany. Her photographic work is embedded at the Museum of Modern Art MoMA Archives on line platform and her work is part of the Columbia University Art Properties collection. Mylonas has collaborated with internationally acclaimed curators and her work is in many public and private collections. She is represented by the Francoise Heitsch Gallery of Munich and maintains a studio in New York and in Aegina Greece.