Window Dressing XXXVII: Christos Pathiakis

Image: Grotto of Hercules, Mt. Cynthus, Delos, Greece

Exhibition Dates: August 5th - 12th 2024 (visible 24 hours/day)

Artist Reception: Friday, August 9th, 8-10 pm

Artist Statement and Bio:

Grotto of Austin is a site-specific window installation that explores our relationship to sacred spaces, both natural and human-made, and the offerings we make there. The artwork is augmented by an installation in the Barton Creek Greenbelt whose sublime formations are our own ancient sacred site. Over the last year, I’ve photographed sites of constructed temples and oracles in Greece and Mexico, including Delphi on Mount Parnassus, the Grotto of Hercules on the island of Delos, and unrestored temples in the area around Uxmal in Mexico. Though each of these are human-made structures connecting worshippers to the gods, their palpable energy and intensity derives from the environment they were built. The Corycian Cave, which has been left in its natural state without human intervention near the Oracle of Delphi, has drawn worshippers since the Neolithic, for example. Grotto of Austin presents a large image of the Grotto of Hercules, located on Mount Cynthus. It is considered to be the oldest site of Apollo worship on the island of Delos, the legendary birthplace of both him and his sister Artemis. This made Delos one of the most sacred places of ancient Greece. The placement of the image along with a small altar with renditions of traditional votive offerings, explores the language and attraction of “worshipful” places and how we interact with them. In addition, the coordinates of a small site of worship and transaction I created in the Greenbelt, one of Austin’s most mystical environments, will be available. Environmental sounds recorded over the cycle of a full day at this site play outside the windows of ICOSA. Christos Pathiakis is an artist residing in Austin. He has shown work at Northern-Southern as part of TOOO, Going Down, and FROM. He is a member of the arts collective Seafoam Palace, collaborating on interactive installations in the US and Europe- most recently in the deep chambers of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, a UNESCO site in Krakow, Poland.