The Blood of the Heroes

Ladislav Babuščák: The Blood of the Heroes

The exhibition was open from 30.4.2014 to 20.6.2014

The sixth exhibition of Studio Hrdinů, The Blood of the Heroes is inspired by The Blood of the Wälsungs by Thomas Mann, the Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, adapted for the stage and directed by Katharina Schmitt. In his work, Ladislav Babuščák does not focus on the concrete myth, he rather discusses the character of the hero in general – his mythical journey through his life, birth and death. In an almost abstract way, the conceptual photo installation presents the universal story of the hero, employing some of his typical approaches: appropriation, references to cinematography or universe, associations – picture seen through the presented object. The gist of The Blood of the Heroes is not visible; it arises in the space between the particular works of the installation.

The Eridanus Constellation:

Since time immemorial, the constellation has been called ‘The River’. To the Babylonians, it represented the Euphrates; to the Egyptians, the Nile; and to the Romans, the Po. In Greek mythology, the Eridanus River figures in the following story:
Phaethon, the son of the solar deity Helios and an earthly woman, went to visit his father in heaven. As no one believed he was the son of a God, he asked his father to lend him his sun chariot for a day. Helios hesitated for a long time before he finally agreed. He asked his son to drive carefully, not too high, not too low. The horses, however, felt his unsure hand and ran wherever they wanted. The heat burnt the surface of the Earth, dried out the rivers and the peoples from the burnt area have had dark skin ever since. Zeus put Phaethon’s ride to an end: he killed him with a thunderbolt and Phaeton fell into Eridanus River. Phaethon was dead; his body was buried on the riverbank by nymphs. Helios covered his face in grief and the night fell in the middle of the day. Phaethon’s mother and her daughters wandered around the world in search of him. When they found Phaethon’s grave, they were consumed with grief and turned into alder trees. Helios’ tears flow from heaven every morning as dew.

Curator: Tereza Sochorová Horáková