Goddesses and Their Lovers – A Step Toward the Design and Construction of the Open Space Museum
Concept Short
Goddesses and Their Lovers is a site-responsive installation that transforms the exhibition space into a mythologically infused garden of reflection and repose. At its center are hammock stations arranged in symbolic pairings—each representing relationships from Greco-Roman and Egyptian mythology. Through spatial configuration and physical engagement, visitors are invited to embody timeless narratives of love, loss, and transformation.
Complementing these physical elements is a hidden digital layer referencing the Born Digital Art scenario of the PERCEIVE Project, where augmented artworks extend the mythological experience into virtual space—merging ancient stories with contemporary technological expression.
Concept Long
The installation transforms the space into a mythologically infused garden of reflection and repose. At its core is a series of carefully positioned hammock stations— five arranged in symbolic pairs and one solitary—each evoking a specific relationship drawn from Greco-Roman and Egyptian mythology.
These include divine unions, mortal encounters with gods, and introspective moments of self-love and transformation. The installation functions as both a sculptural environment and a performative space, encouraging visitors to step into myth not only as spectators but as participants.
Through quiet embodiment, each guest engages with timeless archetypes—love, longing, death, renewal—allowing the mythologies to resonate anew within the contemporary psyche. The piece offers a contemplative experience of rest, embodiment, and symbolic inhabitation within a landscape designed for wandering and reflection.
Visitors are invited to physically engage with the installation by reclining in hammocks that represent mythological figures—gods, goddesses, lovers, and in one case, the self as both subject and reflection. The spatial configuration of each pair (side by side, back to back, above and below) reflects the emotional and narrative dynamics of each myth, translating symbolic content into a bodily experience.
By incorporating augmented reality layers accessible through mobile devices, Goddesses and Their Lovers extends its reflection on transformation and perception into the digital realm— inviting visitors to navigate myth not only through the body but also through evolving forms of technological experience.
The Hammock Stations
Each hammock station embodies a mythological pairing exploring love, loss, transformation, and reflection:
- Psyche & Eros (Cupid) – A mortal and the god of love, united through endurance and transformation.
- Hyacinthus & Apollo – A tragic tale of beauty, youth, and divine mourning.
- Ariadne & Dionysus – A celebration of renewal and ecstasy through divine embrace.
- Demeter & Persephone – A maternal bond marking the rhythm of nature and the seasons.
- Syrinx & Pan – A story of escape and transformation, embodied in sound and form.
- Isis & Osiris – A myth of death, rebirth, and eternal union.
- Narcissus & His Reflection – A meditation on self-love, identity, and desire.
Chromatic Presence – The Isis Bust
At the center of the installation stands a contemporary rendition of the Isis bust from the MANN Museum collection. Constructed from slices of clear plexiglass with random color inserts and animated by central lighting, it creates a dynamic play of color, light, and transparency.
An Engagement Application under development will allow visitors to interact with an AR version of the bust, adjusting its color spectrum in real time to match the shifting projections.
Hidden Layer – Augmented Reality Feature
Reclining visitors may scan a QR code to access immersive AR artworks, transporting them into the early phase of the Augmented Reality Movement (2007–2017). Featured works include:
- Dose by Will Pappenheimer (USA)
- Drone by Will Pappenheimer (USA)
- Ecce Homo by Ingo Lie (DEU) and Art Clay (CHE)
- Information Virus by Warren Armstrong (AUS)
- The Coming of a New Dimension by Art Clay (CHE)
Originally hosted on the now-defunct LAYAR platform, these works were re-engineered by the Immersive Realities Research Lab (IRRL) at HSLU using a Unity-based system. The AR content is now viewable again using the HOVERLAY platform.
In Context – The Open Space Museum
This installation aligns with two scenarios of the Horizon Europe PERCEIVE Project: Polychromy (reconstructing lost color in sculpture) and Born Digital Art (artworks created entirely in digital media). The work contributes to the Open Space Museum, a hybrid platform reimagining how cultural content is experienced physically and virtually.
Acknowledgement
The installation’s structure is based on the Cartesian Node System by Gerrit Rietveld and the modular architecture of Ken Isaacs’ Matrix Building System. It also honors the artist group N55, whose explorations in modular systems and public structures inform its conceptual and material design.