Riccardo Arena's Geranos Ritual Dance at Museo Elisarion

Museo Elisarion in Minusio, Switzerland, presents Riccardo Arena's solo exhibition 'Geranos Planomenon Dance – Movimento II', the culmination of his research on Monteverità since 2021. Curated by Noah Stolz, the show revitalizes the archives of Monteverità and the Eranos Foundation by weaving together diagrams, spirals, dances, serpents, and labyrinths. The title references Harald Szeemann's 1978 exhibition 'Le mammelle della verità' and the ancient Geranos dance performed by Theseus after killing the Minotaur, linked by historian Karoly Kerenyi to the labyrinth myth. Arena drew inspiration from the 'tomb of the dancing women' fresco depicting Geranos. The exhibition spans three floors: the basement displays archaeological stasis evolving into collages, drawings, and sculptures; the dodecagonal room features 'Planomenon', a visual choreography whose title means 'wandering' in botany and ecology. Monteverità attracted figures like Rudolf von Laban, Franz Kafka, and James Joyce, and was a refuge for anarchists and Dadaists. The Eranos Foundation, established in 1933, hosted roundtable conferences and built an archive of symbolic imagery that contributed to the Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism in New York and the Warburg Institute in London since 1950.