Group exhibition 'The Magic of the State' explores political power through myth and ritual

The group exhibition 'The Magic of the State' at Lisson Gallery examines how state power manifests through symbolic and mythical dimensions, drawing from Michael Taussig's 1997 book. Works by Liz Magic Laser, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Ryan Gander, Anja Kirschner & David Panos, Goldin+Senneby, Rana Hamadeh, and Lili Reynaud-Dewar employ video, photography, text, and installation to critique political rituals and historical narratives. Laser's 'Stand Behind Me' (2013) features dancer Ariel Freedman mimicking politicians' gestures, while Panayiotou uses archive photos from post-1960 Cyprus. Kirschner & Panos's 'Ultimate Substance' (2013) connects the Greek economic crisis to ancient Athenian coinage, and Hamadeh's 'The Big Board' (2013) references epidemic metaphors in Athenian politics. Reynaud-Dewar's 'Cleda's Chairs' (2010) juxtaposes personal migration with Pasolini's film struggles. A parallel exhibition runs at Beirut, a Cairo-based nonprofit. The show, reviewed in Summer 2013, questions whether art's elliptical approaches risk acquiescing to state power, linking to stalled social changes like the Arab Spring.