Historical Metamorphoses of the Mystery: From Delphi and Eleusis to the Modern Art of Europe

The Arts & Culture Unit of the Athens Institute is organizing a Microsymposium on “Historical Metamorphoses of the Mystery: From Delphi and Eleusis to the Modern Art of Europe” as part of the 16^th Annual International Conference on Visual and Performing Arts, 9-12 June 2025, Athens, Greece, sponsored by the Athens Journal of Humanities & Arts.

The history of mystery as an area of study (taking into account all the changes in the meaning of this word over the centuries) can be understood as the history of the highest synthesis of all creative manifestations of the human spirit. There are three major forms of mystery: Ancient Greek in terms of religious actions, medieval areal performances and synthetic artistic works of the 19th – 21st centuries, representing the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk in a religious aspect. This third form, in which art itself tends to return to ritual, requires a particularly careful analysis of the confessional or non-confessional meaning and its artistic transformation.

We propose to reveal the ‘mysteric’ potential of various forms of art, as well as hidden forms of representation of mystery (mysteric tendencies) in individual arts (music, dance, painting, cinema, etc.) in their semantic interrelations and interaction.

+ Mysteric tendencies in opera
+ Antiquity in musical theater of the 20^th and 21^st centuries
+ Non-Christian mysteries in musical theater of the 20^th century Mystery
+ and symphony Idea of theurgy in philosophy and art Cinema as a mystery
+ Visual arts in mysteric ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’
+ Restoration of ancient forms of mystery in 20^th century art
+ Mystery: utopia and reality

You may participate as presenter of one session or observer.

Please submit an abstract (by email only) to: atiner@atiner.gr, using the abstract submission form by 18 February 2025 to: Dr. Elena Rovenko, Academic Member, Athens Institute & Researcher, Strasbourg University, France. 

Abstracts should include the following details: Title of Paper, Full Name (s), Affiliation, Current Position, an email address, and at least 3 keywords that best describe the subject of your submission. Decisions are reached within 4 weeks.

Fee structure information is available on www.atiner.gr/fees.

Special arrangements will be made with a local hotel for a limited number of rooms at a special conference rate. In addition, a number of special events will be organized which give a great opportunity to further discuss the issues presented at the conference. From ATINER’s long experience these events bring together scholars from different countries and disciplines which may result to research collaborations and joint publications. These events include a pragmatic symposium (as organized in Ancient Athens but fine-tuned to synchronous ethics), a special one-day educational island tour, a Mycenae and island of Poros visit, an Athens educational walking tour, a day trip to Delphi, and an ancient Corinth and Cape Sounion visit. Details of the social program are available here.