"The dream of the Bacchantes" Sergio Roger at the Gran Teatre del Liceu

This installation takes as its starting point the philosophical concept of "Entzauberung der Welt" (Disenchantment of the World), a criticism articulated by the German Romantic poet Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) against the scientificist view inherited from the Enlightenment. Schiller and other intellectuals of his time questioned the rational and systematic approach of modernity, which, while explaining and ordering the world, also emptied it of its aura of mystery.

Through elaborate sculptures and textile installations, it seeks to question the inherited conceptions of the past, perpetuated by history and archaeology through the 19th-century museum. This institution, through its methodologies of classification and presentation of collections, reflects the ordering view of the Enlightenment and, through its narratives, speculates about the past, thus perpetuating its imperialist and Eurocentric legacy.

In this installation, a reinterpretation of a Greco-Roman archaeological site is presented. A large silver Corinthian capital, made of wild silk, appears in the scene as a dreamlike and idealized image, contrasting with the ancient flax columns in a state of ruin. This dialectical tension aims to evoke the archaic world of mysteries and oracles, invoking the initiatory rites of antiquity to re-enchant the world and restore its original magic.

The work of Sergio Roger (Barcelona, 1982) arises from his constant quest for inspiration in ancient artistic representations of beauty. The artist reinterprets iconic elements of art history by breaking with our preconceived ideas. Therefore, he presents us with a universe made up of astonishing textile sculptures. Each of his pieces is unique, created from rich textile pieces that he collects himself. Roger questions our perception of the past and understands history as a field that must be reread critically. According to the artist, archaeology is full of fictions, since born in the 19th century and in the midst of the colonial era, it imposed a Eurocentric view on our way of interpreting the past. Since graduating from the Academy of Art in Berlin (UdK), Sergio Roger has exhibited his work in internationally renowned galleries such as Rossana Orlandi in Milan and Robilant + Voena in London and Montecarlo.