James Lane's performance “Dionysus’ Mirror” took place in Feb. 2011, during the opening of his solo exhibition "Alluvium" at Beton 7 Center for the Arts, in Athens, Greece. For more information on James Lane's art visit www.jamesmlane.com The performance was solemnly executed by a triad. The artist in a role resembling that of High Priest led the ceremony while flanked by his two assistants actor Peris Michailidis and Tanya Veanous Tsakirian student of Philosophy and History of Science. The video documenting the performance was filmed by Dimitris Merantzas and edited by Thanos Fatouros and James Lane. In short, an exposed film is recovered from a vintage camera. The camera is then butchered, boiled and grilled. The scheme parallels the Orphic myth of Dionysus-Zagreus; the salvaging of his heart, his deception by the use of a mirror and his final torment by the Titans. Prologue The artist travels overnight to Levadia, Greece. As the dawn breaks through the night he collects water from two springs associated with the Oracle of Trophonius Zeus; the springs of Lethe (Oblivion) and Mnemosyne (Memory). A drop of water from Lethe is placed on a mirror. It soon evaporates leaving a trace of salt deposits. Stage 1 In the white, brightly lit gallery of Beton 7 - a space crossing boundaries between laboratory and operating room - lying on an array of raised mirror surfaces are exhibits: an early twentieth century photographic album, a book of records detailing formal luncheons and dinners, a gypsum relic of a marital couple, the trace of water from the spring of Lethe, a vintage Brownie Target Six-16 camera. After decades of darkness, a Kodak Panatomic-X film is painstakingly recovered from the Brownie camera by the artist, flanked by his two assistants during a solemn, quasi-surgical procedure. The film is placed in a clay container for safekeeping until its pending development. Stage 2 The camera resting on the mirror is taken to the underground black box theater of the art center. It is placed on a butcher-block that travelled the Atlantic ocean from the artist’s paternal home in New York. After a few tense minutes the artist manages to cut through the camera splitting it into two approximately equal parts. A cloud of fine air-born particles rises in the dark space of the room. Stage 3 The torn camera lying on the mirror is transported to the gallery. A reflective vessel is filled with the oracular water collected earlier from the spring of Lethe. The water is brought to a boil and the camera halves are immersed. They release a black liquid. A broth is produced. Stage 4 The boiled camera pieces are transported outside to be spread on a barbeque grill. They soon catch on fire while smoke rises. The smoldering remains are ceremoniously laid down on the mirror and returned to the gallery to lie among the rest of the exhibits.