Mystère I : Hermaphrodite endormi.e is the opening work of the “Cycle des Hermaphrodites” that artists Maria Klonaris and Katerina Thomadaki began in 1982. The cycle’s name is taken from the Roman sculpture Sleeping Hermaphrodite in the Louvre, [1] which, for Klonaris and Thomadaki, represents a blend of male and female characteristics. After their first two cycles — La tétralogie corporelle (1975–79) and Le Cycle de l’Unheimlich (1977–82)—which focused on self-representation and the female body, the artists addressed “the question of androgyny as a constituent element of both sexes.” [2]

Created for the 12th Biennale de Paris, this work marked the artists’ shift from the multi-screen projection/performance they had previously practiced to a multimedia environmental installation. The environment for the work was a rectangular space measuring 30 meters by 6 in the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris and featured slide projections of the Roman sculpture photographed from different angles, images of the two artists, looped Super 8 films, and a range of objects, the whole accompanied by a soundtrack in the spirit of expanded cinema.

The artists designed the space in three parts, allowing visitors to progressively immerse themselves in the work and devise their own path through it. Sound was a fundamental element, which Klonaris and Thomadaki conceived as the work’s primary medium. [3] Lasting 75 minutes, the soundtrack was played through 20 speakers placed along the length and on both sides of the rectangular space. It consisted of remixed loops of Baroque music, sound effects, and spoken texts: “Baroque countertenor chants, a Cello Suite by J.S. Bach, Gregorian chants, and the voices of the artists are subjected to digital repetition and other techniques, giving a circular treatment of sound.” [4]

Before entering the first space, visitors were greeted by a large projection of the face of the Sleeping Hermaphrodite. In the central area, they found themselves surrounded by projections: “still self-portrait images of the two artists dressed in Baroque style with golden fabrics and holding crystal objects, overlapping projections of nighttime images of Place de la Concorde. On a large trapezoid-shaped screen in the floor, abstract light patterns were projected. Plexiglas surfaces mounted on the partition walls reflected the projections, while a large tulle screen created a semi-transparent division between this room and the third. On this screen—whose texture made it possible to create moiré and holographic effects—a photograph of the statue from behind was projected.” [5] Lastly, in the third room, the audience was surrounded by multiple images of the Hermaphrodite created using projection effects. The artists designed the work so that from this last space, visitors were able to see the entire installation, thereby immersing them in a new space-time dimension: “the work explores ideas of duality, of reality and the imaginary, of the material and immaterial. Time is no longer linear but circular, infinite, featuring both immobility and repetition.” [6] In this environment, the visitors’ senses were fully engaged: vision through the multiple projections, hearing through both pre-recorded and live music, and smell through the presence of roses scattered on the floor in the second space. The audience was invited to muster these senses during their path through the installation. The projected images of the Roman sculpture, dematerialized by their light projection, transported the public into a dreamlike dimension. The Hermaphrodite became a symbol of the incompleteness which the viewers were compelled to confront, as the ancient statue only ever offers a fragment of itself to the viewer’s gaze.

Marie Vicet, February 2025

Translated by Timothy Stroud

See the page dedicated to the work on the Louvre website: https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010250571#, consulted September 20, 2022.

[2] Maria Klonaris and Katerina Thomadaki, “Doubles et Insoumis.es du genre. Intersexualité et intermédia”, in Christine Buci-Glucksmann (ed.), L’art à l’époque du virtuel (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2003), p. 211.

[3] The environment was co-produced with the “Sound section” of the 12th Biennale de Paris. See also “Entretien avec Maria Klonaris et Katerina Thomadaki : rites de l’intelligence et films cultes,” in Marina Gržinic (ed.), Stranger than Angel: Disidentska telesa, Corps dissidents, Dissident Bodies (Ljubljana: Cankarjev Dom, 2002), p. 93.

[4] Simonetta Cagioli, “Klonaris/Thomadaki : du cinéma élargi aux environnements de projection”, in Cécile Chich (ed.), Klonaris/Thomadaki, le cinéma corporel : corps sublimes/intersexe et intermédia (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2006), p. 152.

[5] Ibid., pp. 153-54.

[6] Ibid., p. 154.