#Art sisyphus trial
#Art sisyphus series
#Art sisyphus free

In the intimate space of our imagination, we can turn to him at will, and with only the slightest effort, we will find him as before-solitary, weather beaten, resigned, without illusion. Like all the images that capture and create the character of our age, Sisyphus is always there for each of us. Since then, this voice-at once lyrical and austere, personal and oracular-and the ancient image he calls up in these lines have become permanent parts of our postmodern consciousness. The words are, of course, Albert Camus's. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.1 The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of the mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight.

#Art sisyphus free

The struggle of Sisyphus has become a global symbol of endless suffering and within the performance piece a resolution is sought, a way to free us all from mindless toil.

#Art sisyphus series

This performance piece is the latest in a series that will continue an exploration of ways to symbolically enact aspects of our daily life that may seem ordinary at first glance but which actually suggest that we are all Sisyphus.

#Art sisyphus trial

The content of the performance included specific symbolic gestures that suggested and embodied the re-establishment of a sense of equilibrium prior to a final re-run of the trial of Sisyphus that aimed to be the final test, thereby ending his torment. The resulting performance art piece ultimately aimed to break the endless cycle of punishment meted out to Sisyphus, to free him from his eternal and meaningless struggle in an effort to create a window of opportunity that could be used for self-reflection, self-assessment and the possibility of change.

Mention will also be made of the story’s adoption by French philosopher Albert Camus who presented the protagonist, Sisyphus, as the quintessential existentialist ‘absurd’ hero. The art piece took the ancient Greek myth of Sisyphus as a starting reference and the paper will go on to explain how the myth provided the inspiration and framework for the development of the resulting performance art piece.Ĭonsideration for the character of Sisyphus himself will be undertaken, who was he? and why had he been dealt this terrible punishment? The myth as outlined in the ancient texts of Homer will first be examined in an attempt to comprehend his predicament before further examination will be made of how the myth has been adopted and applied in various ways in literature, with Sisyphus becoming the archetypal suffering hero.

This paper is an attempt to document the inspiration and creation of a performance art piece that was realised at Repulse Bay on the southern coast of Hong Kong Island.