After being ‘baptised’ by fire, the audience enter the installation with the iconic name ANTI-BABYLON. In the depths of the space the audience will encounter seven or more vertical projections displaying the world's largest skyscrapers turned upside down. These skyscrapers, as symbols of the success and strength of the world of corporate neo-liberal capitalism, will assume the function of drills aimed towards the bowels of the planet. Gradually, they will become clogged by coils of magma that will ‘drip’ onto physical piles of coal set under the projections, thereby sparking flames at their tips. A voice coming through the speakers will alternately recite the L.A.E. manifesto and the myth of The Underground City. At the opening of the exhibition/installation, Metal Guru (Dean Zahtila, Damir Stojnić, Massimo Savić), an artistic faction of L.A.E., will perform a ritual reading of The L.A.E. Manifesto and set the piles of coal alight.
Anti-Babylon was first exhibited during the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of L.A.E. in March and April 2021 in DKC Lamparna, the headquarters and main exhibition space of L.A.E. The production of the project can be adapted according to the features of the exhibiting space. These technical interventions will not alter the content or the coherence of the piece, which functions as a narrative intervention in the critique of civilisation, in which L.A.E. suggestively united historical, personal, mythical, poetic and alchemical sources and translated them into the visual language of a multimedia installation.
Read the full installation text here.
