CHRISTOPH ZIEGLER

SCULPTURES/
DIONYSIAN GARDEN

"Black Crane" (detail), 2021.
"Worms & Snails" (detail), 2023.
"Thunderbird" (detail), 2021.
"Red-eyed Double Eagle" (detail), 2021.
"The Family", installation view, 2022.
"Dionysian Garden", exhibition view (with Loukia), 2023.
"Dionysian Garden", exhibition view, 2023.
"Hekate Black Pheasant", (detail), 2023.
"Hekate Black Pheasant", exhibition view, 2023.

DIONYSIAN GARDEN

The ancient Greek traveler and geographer Pausanias referred to the region of Arcadia, on the Peloponnese peninsula, as the “Garden of Dionysus.” According to myth, the young god Dionysus was raised by nymphs in a cave near today’s Arcadian town of Leonidio.

The solo exhibition Dionysus’ Garden, presented at the historic building Pirgos Tsikaliotis during the Melitzazz Festival in Leonidio (2023), reflects my observations made during an extended working period in the town.

The exhibition featured sculptures and reliefs constructed from fragments of old and broken furniture, found objects, plastic toys, and other materials collected in and around the 19th-century Peloponnesian town. My personal interpretation of the Dionysian cult — with its dance, mystery, and miraculous effigies of Greek antiquity — takes shape in the creature-like figures and wall objects.