MetARTum Project – Second Action – PandemonCracy: The Panic of the Era in the Pandemonium of Nature

In an era marked by overlapping crises—where speed, complexity, and constant interaction shape the rhythm of everyday life—turning toward nature and its divine qualities becomes a momentary return to our primordial self.

For this second action, the MetARTum Project turns to the toponym of Fabrika and the wider area of ancient Zominthos. The project unfolds as an imprint of the panic of our era, expressed through the enduring image of the god Pan, within a supremacy of life and nature over death. In yet another toponym of the sacred land of Psiloritis, and at the mitato (traditional stone shepherd’s hut of the Cretan mountains) of the Chairetis family, we had the opportunity to develop the second action of the MetARTum Project under the title: PandemonCracy – The Panic of the Era in the Pandemonium of Nature.

The visual artist and art conservator Giorgos Bounias, using as his canvas the skull of a ram (an animal remnant found in the area), created a composition in which the exuberant vegetation of nature prevails over war. Guided by the flute of Pan and the dance of the nymphs, the scene unfolds into a pandemonic celebration of life.

The visual creation is accompanied by a musical improvisation on the askomandoura (traditional Cretan bagpipe) and the fiaboli (Cretan shepherd’s end-blown flute) by the musician Georgios Saloustros (Kechris), creating a performative moment rooted in both landscape and time. This moment was captured through the directorial coordination of Manolis Papadakis and the collaboration of Michalis Tsourdalakis.

The project’s transition into the digital realm and the establishment of an open augmented reality exhibition takes place in collaboration with the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH) and the Institute of Computer Science, as well as with the Municipality of Anogeia, within whose mountainous territory—and within the mitata of the region—this project unfolds.

As the visual artist Giorgos Bounias writes and narrates during the journey of his artistic creation:

“The repulsive appearance of the goat-shaped Pan is called to be imprinted upon the equally repulsive surface of a horned ram’s skull. It is as if, through art itself, the misunderstood personality of Pan is being exorcised.

Pan finds his ‘home’ once again and is reborn inside the mitato. The smell of sheep and goats, the first stone that took its place and became the foundation of human relationships, the milk that spilled upon the earth of the mitato, and the wind whistling through the openings of the structure will always declare that the god Pan never left; he is here again to express the universal values of joy, love, and peace.

I hold the skull in my hands and I am ready to imprint not only what I know, what I was taught, what I heard, but everything that now unfolds before my eyes. I see ‘Panic’; I will paint tanks, just as they say he appeared during the Battle of Marathon and spread panic among the Persians with a single cry: ‘Pan Pan’… And now I see him running among the crowds in the war in Ukraine, as he once did in Syria.

I see Panida (the wildlife of the natural world); I will paint nature ‘drowning’ the tanks and blossoming at the goat-feet of Pan, surrounded by naked nymphs and vineyards bent under the weight of their grapes. Pan never forgot the love shown to him by the shepherds; he returned to play them once more with his flute, so that they might all raise their cups together filled with wine and raki.

The skull is adorned with scenes and images of both the past and the present. With vivid colors I grant it a second life through my art; where once it was sacrificed to nourish generations of people, there it is reborn to remain forever ‘alive’, praising the purpose of the god Pan.

We take pride in memory — never in oblivion.”

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