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

It was believed that the nymphs raised god Dionysus, the ancient Greek patron of wine and wild rites of initiation exclusively performed by women, in an Arcadian cave. The cave that houses today a Christian monastery is located close to the town of Leonidio. Pausanias, the ancient Greek author of travel-literature, called the fertile valley of Leonidio "Dionysus' Garden".

Christoph Ziegler's reliefs series Dionysian Garden is constructed from fragments of old and broken furniture, found objects, plastic toys, and other materials collected in and around the 19th-century town of Leonidio in the Peloponnese.

The Dionysian rituals and wonders - featuring dancers, mysteries initiates, and the miraculous effigies of the pre-Olympian religion — are portrayed in the creature-like figures and wall objects.

Ziegler's relief series was presented in a solo exhibition at the historic building Pirgos Tsikaliotis during the Melitzazz Festival in Leonidio (2023).