DBIAOCNCYHSAUES
Fletcher Nickerson reinterprets Euripides’ The Bacchae.
Art by: Fletcher Nickerson
Artist's NoteArtist's Note
This comic reinterprets Euripides' The Bacchae. The decision to use abstraction was heavily influenced by the film Dionysus in ’69 (De Palma, 1970) and Nietzsche’s concept of tragedy as the melding of the Apollonian and the Dionysian. To him, the art of Apollo represents the truth found in dreams, communicated through concrete symbols (as in sculpture). Dionysian art then is characterized by “self-forgetfulness” and drunken illusions (epitomized by dancing and music).
Dionysus in ’69 plays with the concept of the Apollonian and Dionysian through how it navigates the role of the audience and the temporality of the production. The film documents two live performances by The Performance Group’s adaptation of The Bacchae. Two videos, captured on different days, are played side-by-side. Often they appear to show different angles of the same event, but at other moments the two performances depart, disorienting the viewer.
As viewers of the film, we are not a part of a living audience, losing themselves to the performance as they join the actors in dance. As a result, the Dionysian sense of forgetting the self is transformed into distanced Apollonian self-awareness. Similarly, the film fixes a living Dionysian performance that changed each night into a more static Apollonian medium that can be revisited and retains its form over time. However, the extemporaneous and surreal nature of the production retains its Dionysian quality. Although film documents the performance, it also obscures the events. Often, it's unclear what or whom the camera is pointed at as blurred shapes float across the screen. The inability to comprehend both the character Dionysus and what we perceive of his actions cements the film in the Dionysian.
I was curious as to how other artistic mediums could be used to balance structured, static Apollonian art and chaotic, ephemeral Dionysian art. I took inspiration from the split-screen layout of the film, viewing the two 4:3 boxes as boundaries that could be dissolved by abstract forms traversing them.
The goal of my comic book interpretation was not to create a visual narrative whose plot and characters can be easily deciphered. Rather, I hoped to represent the tragic mortals' inability to fully comprehend Dionysus' identity, abilities, and motives. A struggle between the Apollonian and Dionysian, as well as Dionysus' growing power over Thebes, is rendered through the changing prominence of the comic's frames and a descent into visual chaos. I chose the title “DBIAOCNCYHSAUES” to reflect the expansion of Dionysus' influence onto both his followers and his greater surroundings. Interspersing “Dionysus” and “Bacchae” creates a word as incomprehensible as the expanse of his powers.
Although the comic roughly follows the chronology of Euripides' play, the fragments I've included from Paul Woodruff's 1999 translation have been rearranged. The text acts as an anchor in the comic's source material, and as something recognizable for the reader to hold onto. However, placed in illustrations of unrelated scenes, and removed from their surrounding dialogue, these excerpts complicate the interpretation of the imagery and draw attention to the indecipherability of the abstract forms.
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Artist's Note
This comic reinterprets Euripides' The Bacchae. The decision to use abstraction was heavily influenced by the film Dionysus in ’69 (De Palma, 1970) and Nietzsche’s concept of tragedy as the melding of the Apollonian and the Dionysian. To him, the art of Apollo represents the truth found in dreams, communicated through concrete symbols (as in sculpture). Dionysian art then is characterized by “self-forgetfulness” and drunken illusions (epitomized by dancing and music).
Dionysus in ’69 plays with the concept of the Apollonian and Dionysian through how it navigates the role of the audience and the temporality of the production. The film documents two live performances by The Performance Group’s adaptation of The Bacchae. Two videos, captured on different days, are played side-by-side. Often they appear to show different angles of the same event, but at other moments the two performances depart, disorienting the viewer.
As viewers of the film, we are not a part of a living audience, losing themselves to the performance as they join the actors in dance. As a result, the Dionysian sense of forgetting the self is transformed into distanced Apollonian self-awareness. Similarly, the film fixes a living Dionysian performance that changed each night into a more static Apollonian medium that can be revisited and retains its form over time. However, the extemporaneous and surreal nature of the production retains its Dionysian quality. Although film documents the performance, it also obscures the events. Often, it's unclear what or whom the camera is pointed at as blurred shapes float across the screen. The inability to comprehend both the character Dionysus and what we perceive of his actions cements the film in the Dionysian.
I was curious as to how other artistic mediums could be used to balance structured, static Apollonian art and chaotic, ephemeral Dionysian art. I took inspiration from the split-screen layout of the film, viewing the two 4:3 boxes as boundaries that could be dissolved by abstract forms traversing them.
The goal of my comic book interpretation was not to create a visual narrative whose plot and characters can be easily deciphered. Rather, I hoped to represent the tragic mortals' inability to fully comprehend Dionysus' identity, abilities, and motives. A struggle between the Apollonian and Dionysian, as well as Dionysus' growing power over Thebes, is rendered through the changing prominence of the comic's frames and a descent into visual chaos. I chose the title “DBIAOCNCYHSAUES” to reflect the expansion of Dionysus' influence onto both his followers and his greater surroundings. Interspersing “Dionysus” and “Bacchae” creates a word as incomprehensible as the expanse of his powers.
Although the comic roughly follows the chronology of Euripides' play, the fragments I've included from Paul Woodruff's 1999 translation have been rearranged. The text acts as an anchor in the comic's source material, and as something recognizable for the reader to hold onto. However, placed in illustrations of unrelated scenes, and removed from their surrounding dialogue, these excerpts complicate the interpretation of the imagery and draw attention to the indecipherability of the abstract forms.
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