In the beginning there was Prometheus, the bringer of fire. The Titan who stole fire from the gods by holding the stem of a giant fennel to Helios’ sun chariot. Bringing fire to mankind, was an act of rebellion, setting off the whole development of human being, which then from the cave fires to the ‘hell fires’ of modern industrial plants. Fire as a symbol of the progress of mankind, but also as a symbol of the all-devouring element that will stop at nothing and nobody. Driven by the greed of the eternal growth credo, beyond ecological, social or humanistic considerations. Unstoppable, like Goethe’s sorcerer’s apprentice.

This is how Costas Varotsos’ exhibition at the Museo Castromediano in Lecce begins. The spark of our history, visible in the form of a giant red needle, like a huge lightning strike in front of the building.  Prometheus in front of the museum entrance and growing far beyond the building. Another divine allusion ends the exhibition: Sculptures, that seem like breath of soul, interwoven with relics of times long past in the museum’s glass display cases. The sculpture installation «Soffi» (Blows), dedicated to Thanatos, the god of death, gives the impression of leaving the building again like a sigh. At the same time, however, like many of Varotsos’ thoughts turned into sculptures: Elpís also carries hope within her and so do the sighing steles, which can also be read as enlightened wings taking off to new spiritual destinations.

The artists’ works span between the ‘divine poles’ of the exhibition, from the 80s to the present day. First Arte Povera-inspired works «La verità è sempre un’altra» (The truth is always another one), hammered out of a thick metal plate over the course of days and then fragilely labelled with chalk. And «Venere nera» (Black Venus), an iconic work made of charred olive wood and fiberglass. For the exhibition it is permeated by a glowing wire, which intensifies the spiritual aura of the work. Symbolizing the ecological crisis in southern Italy, where olive trees are succumbing en masse to the Xylella bacterium.

The shattered glass installation of all the flags of Europe «Europa» (Europe), which is several metres long and already caused a sensation at the documenta Kassel in the Fridericianum in 2017, is a shambles in the truest sense of the word.

And everywhere the human being, on whose condition the artist reflects, in the field of tension between myth and the present, between destruction and hope, between materiality and emotions. A great human stands there in the inner courtyard of the museum: fragile, vulnerable but also very hurtful if you approach him too close with the layers of glass plates that make him up. It is this complexity of the material glass, which can express both at the same time: the complete absorption of an object but also the exact opposite. That made it the material of choice for many of Costas Varotsos’ international large works in public space. Another work visitors are confronted with is the «Labirinto» (labyrinth): trapped in the labyrinth of one’s own activities. Looking at yourself with self-absorption and reflecting on your own person within time and space.

«Elpís|Ελπίδα – Prometeo o del sogno infranto di Europa» is the synthesis of Varotsos’ life’s work, which, viewed retrospectively, fits together here like a mosaic, as if it had been planned that way from the beginning of his career. One of the most impressive exhibitions of recent years, which touched me deeply, as it manifests the myriad connections between our life as human beings and all the facets contributing to our being in historical, sociological, political, economic, cultural and spiritual dimensions. A kind of archaeological decryption of human life, constituting an exhibition that absolutely should be shown in other places of Europe. Especially nowadays, when Europe is fighting its own demons like a shadow theatre. Perhaps it’s not too late to learn something from the myths of antiquity and from its’ multilayered connections to nowadays?

Fire in a different way is the theme of the anniversary exhibition of the Fondation WhiteSpaceBlackBox.