On the altar to the unknown god (a replica of equivalents attested in ancient Greece, erected so as not to forget any local god), wreaths of plants hang from a steel plate. Ancient and Christian sacred symbolism alternate, between that of victory (olive tree) and pain (thorns). For ‘life is, always and everywhere, escape and liberation; escape from prison, release, explosion and blossoming. All lives, all the moments of all lives’. (Giovanni Papini, 1912)

These plants (except for the brambles) were carefully collected from major sites in ancient Athens: the Acropolis, Plato's Academy, Socrates' Rock, Eleusis. Then they passed through the hand of Midas, using the electroplating technique. From fragile and perishable, they thus became eternal, fixed by the metal.

Copper and zinc electroplated organic elements, steel plate
Plate: 95 x 48 cm