GOLD UND LIEBE, LIEBE FÜR GOLD

It’s a Saturday night and I am at a basement club in Athens dancing to Liebe Auf Den Ersten Blick by the German band D. A. F. Everything is so smoky and dark. The dance floor is so crowded that everybody is pushing you around. I try to move but the smoke is so deep that I loose my sense of place. As I try to come out of the smoke I turn around and I see a man with a golden head. I move closer and I see an old inscription on his forehead: You are excrement. You can change yourself into gold.

According to alchemical thinking body and soul should reach unison. Through gnosis gold finds a canal to a higher state, symbolically creating the philosophers stone. Gold the most precious of materials, its benevolence abide materiality and wealth. Its capital evokes the pursuit of happiness and satisfaction through possession. Love a feeling of lust simulating a higher goal in life, one that in accordance can lead to true happiness or denial. Life without love. Can one go on without it? To love and feel loved is a step closer to spirituality and perfection. Can love exist without gold? Do they feed each other or do they devour each other?

Curated by Amalia Vekri

Read more about the exhibition here and Panos Papadopoulos