IMAGINES

In Greek mythology, the word psyche stands for the human soul, the personified mental and spiritual life of human beings. In visual arts, she was depicted as a bird, butterfly, or winged maiden. In many other cultures, the soul is also visually and symbolically represented as a butterfly, while its metamorphosis from a larva into a fully grown being with wings that is able to reach heights, attain freedom and fly, represents the metamorphosis of the soul. The metamorphosis of the butterfly occurs through a kind of “death” of the larva, which falls into oblivion: its organs disintegrate, deconstruct and reorganize into the future organs of the butterfly. Scientists have discovered cells they poetically called “imaginal cells”, which contain the “memory” of the final stage of metamorphosis – the butterfly.

Starting from these suppositions, we set out to explore the truly wonderful world of butterflies, which graced us with an abundance of fascinating data, coincidences, allegories and motifs: the sphenoid bone, monarch butterflies, the struggle of genomes in the protein soup inside the chrysalis, a wise man who dreamt he was a butterfly, but when he awakened, he could not distinguish the dream from the waking state.

What does the drama of the seemingly peaceful butterfly metamorphosis look like, what does the peeling of the soul look like?

Choreographer: Zrinka Lukčec

Co-creators and performers: Adriana Josipović, Katarina Arbanas

Writer and text author: Ana Prolić

Music composer and performer: Bernabe Romero

Costume designer: Emina Kušan

Lighting designer: Mladen Šolić

Visuals designer: Majda Petković

Technical support: Duško Richtermoc

Co-production: Artistic organisation Plešimedo & Zagreb Dance Center 2024.

The project was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture of the City of Zagreb.