Idolatry
iron, double mirror, smoke machine
1994
The python reappears in Idolatry, a highly theatrical installation by Greek artist Lydia Venieri. Here the snake forms the undulating base of an astrolabe which frames a "magic mirror". Reflecting the sun and sky by day, the mirror periodically emits bursts of steam at night, which flood its surface with swirls of misty vapor. The astrolobe, a navigation instruments which relied on the movements of the constellations, and the mist-covered mirror, which both hides and discloses, emphasize once again the coexistence of the rational and irrational.