Blessed Ω

Blessed Ω, 2:19mins, 4K video, color, 2022

Blessed Ω is a short poetry-film, it is based on a poem written in 2022 on the occasion of the publication of Pasta Poetry, launched in 2024 by Lost Books Found, London, UK.
The narrator speaks about Makaría, daughter of Hades and goddess of an honourable death, tracing the etymological derivatives of her name across cultures and historical changes; from byzantine funerary delicacies to Italian pasta, to the modern-day greek melo-makarona cookies. From Macaría the story passes on to the 18th century proto-queer, proto-capitalist figure of the Macaroni, whose metonymical name was meant to evoke his South European mannerisms and queer appearance. The narrator switches between English and Greek, and between a lulling narration and byzantine-styled chant singing. The visual narrative includes footage from a cemetery and a marble quarry on the island of Tinos in Greece, followed by a full-moon night sky and an 18th-century popular caricature etching of the figure of the Macaroni. The gravure floats next to an ink drawing of a rocky mountain resembling the biblical desert landscapes of eastern orthodox art iconography. The film reflects poetically on perceiving time, language, and history - each and all as manifestations of death.

Concept, image, text, editing:
Athanasios Anagnostopoulos

Original music & sound mastering:
Kleitos Kyriakides

Commissioned by
Callie’s resident artist Sophie Lee. Screened at Callie’s, Berlin.

Blessed Ω

Makaria, daughter of Hades
-the Byzantines mention no mother-
crouched down in a dirty corner
covered in glass noodle memories

Μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοί τῷ πνεύματι,

Athenian funerary taxes
sacral sacrifices
thoughts pulling strings
strings pulling thoughts
soft and palpable was her spirit
her name meaning
goddess of a blessed death
more merciful than Thanatos
greatly honoured by Athenians
unknown in Berlin.

Remember
just centuries ago,
exceeding both
fashion of courtesans and commoners,
there came
our fellow Macaroni
affected creature of neuter gender
a mix of Continent and England
heir to a worldly shift
proto-pasta
capitalist
commodity fetishist
analog nomad to the South
and said

ὅτι αὐτῶν ἐστιν…

the sensorial kingdom of
blessed μελο-ΜΑΚΑΡΟΝΑ
raised in the East
by Holy Oil-Honey-Semolina,
cousins of H.H. Theodora
-Highness to some, Holiness to others-
via Hesychius the quiet,
incidental siblings of Makaría,
served at the empire’s funeral parades
now delicacies to the birth of Jesus,
an oversized Jesus in Napoli
in the corner of a tiny street
skin and dough mixed in equal parts.

And thus in History, somewhere
between East and West
between North and South
lies in the Zwischenräume

ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν.