In Greek mythology Marsyas was a satyr whose double oboe could imitate human voices, laughs and cries. Also known for his ability to cure diseases, his fame as a talented musician was such that Apollo himself became jealous. After a musical duel, the god had Marsyas skinned alive. Thus, the latter’s naked body became the theatre of a punishment, a space where power and the flesh collided.

It’s through and against the skin that our relationship with the world becomes palpable. The epidermis is a surface that can be scrutinized or read. It’s a boundary that is both resistant and porous. Retour de Marsyas explores this organ as an interface where memory, technology, assignments and claims intersect and redefine each other.

Each video in this sequence examines the tension between the body, control and the quest for self-determination. They present worlds where the real and the virtual intertwine, with the intention of both recognizing power and creating spaces of resistance. Worlds where the ancestral metamorphoses of the divine spider Anansi, computer glitches and gestures and dances inspired by video games make it possible to explore and subvert systems of control – eugenics, predictive technologies, gender norms, etc. – while flooding into and occupying the breaches.

In video games, a player’s “skin”, the customized appearance of their avatar, embodies this ambivalence. As a marker of identity, distinctness and even value, it’s simultaneously the expression of a subjectivity, belonging and self-commodification.

Retour de Marsyas, the revenge of a satyr whose tortured flesh is pierced by daylight, invites us to question the skin in all its dimensions – real and virtual – as a site of experimentation where narratives and bodies are reinvented.


Three continuously screens:

• Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, God Mode, 2023

colour video, sound, 11min52s

• Nina Davies, Precursing, 2023

colour video, sound, 11min12s

• Bassam Issa Al-Sabah It’s Dangerous to go Alone! Take This, 2023

colour video, sound, 29min29s