Abraxas

Traces encountered in search of family history in the Czech Republic, transformed into multiple reflections of past and present thresholds. Amidst roads and bridges, buildings and bodies, outer and inner landscapes, stories await to be uncovered. Yet no one remains to offer coherent interpretation—only a field of approaching horses, swans bathed in sunlight, an ossuary filled with plague victims, a chandelier of human bones. A history lost, drawn forth from the depths of the aether.

“The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.” – Herman Hesse

Co-production: Le Fresnoy, studio national des arts contemporains

Lab: DeJonghe