Bloody Minerals - Analysis of Organic Heritage Materials - 1st Study: The Altar of Liberty
3:43 mins, Colour, Stereo, Full HD
Commissioned by the 2nd NSK State Folk Art Biennial 2016.

The altar of liberty totters when it is cemented only with blood.
Daniel O'Connell

The Altar Of Liberty - commissioned by the NSK State Folk Biennial on the occassion of the centenary of the Irish Easter Rising- is the first in a series of visual-poetic studies on an “Analysis of Organic Heritage Materials”. Footage of a mountain skyline loops in a vertical motion over a backdrop of a static map of Europe while black molecular structures emanate from all directions accompanied by eery, earth-splitting sounds. The specular mountain formations may result in pareidolia.  The video is a poetic response to affective glitches surrounding the experience of an identification with a culture, a state, a territory, an history, or an ideology.
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The Altar of Liberty was presented as part of a larger project- Bloody Minerals - touching on notions of territoriality, colonialism, supra-/national identification and scientism. The screenings and ritualistic performances comprising the project approach the notion of the Spirit of Revolt as a mythical emancipatory demand and trace affective boundaries across the European territory and culture.
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​​© Athanasios Anagnostopoulos