2012 – 2025
„Encountering Atlantis“ is a longterm research project and personal investigation into the world of myths and belief systems. The multimedia project will take shape in various interrelated formats: performance-lecture, installation and feature-length essay-film.
The search for Atlantis on the island of Malta merges with the investigation into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, and opens up broader questions about utopian images, debatable truths, and storytelling. A personal narration playfully juxtaposes belief systems in science, politics, mythology, and journalism. Why do we belief in stories, what do stories do, and where do we find „truth“?
A wondrous island empire mentioned by philosopher Plato, a ritual expert only out for sexual contact; a dubious government whose members presumably silenced a journalist with a car bomb.
I take the ancient myth of Atlantis and today’s island-state of Malta as thought laboratories for my quest to understand the use and abuse of stories. My project starts with a question: What do we know for sure, what do we choose to believe, and where to draw the line between believing and knowing?
As I delve deeper into the world of myth / make believe / fact fiction blurring systems, I must position myself in a world increasingly filled with fake news, augmented realities and alternative facts. While I do not believe that Malta was Atlantis, I explore the theories and argumentations as artistic ways to look how we discuss scientific evidence. The various positions and fragments are woven together by a commentary with a humorous take.
Context (Malta and Atlantis)
Malta is a country of the European Union, criticized for selling passports, plagued by allegations of corruption and money laundering. It sells itself as heaven for retired British people, rich foreigners, and tourists. A theory claims that Malta was once part of Plato’s mythical island of Atlantis.
Philosopher Plato described Atlantis in two of his dialogues (Critias and Timeaus) as a masterful society which wages war against Athens. Over the past 2400 years, Atlantis has turned from being Athen’s enemy into a Disney-fied symbol of a perfect utopian society. Not a single trace of Atlantis has been found.
In 2017, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed with a car bomb. The mastermind behind the assassination has not yet been identified. However, in 2019 and 2020, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and several of his cabinet members resigned in relation to corruption charges.
PROLOGUE – truth seems further away than ever before-
CHAPTER 1 – TEMPLE MYSTERY
In which I arrive in Malta to work on a documentary about the prehistoric temples and find a book which sets me on a quest for the lost empire of Atlantis. (2011)
CHAPTER 2 – ATLANTOLOGY
In which I study the discipline of Atlantology, while Malta elects a new government (2013)
CHAPTER 3 – STUDY TRIP
in which I participate in a 10-day-Atlantis study tour and think about scientific evidence and the post-truth society
CHAPTER 4 – LITERARY SOURCE PLATO
in which I learn the difference between mythos und logos, why Aquaman was wrong, what a 19th century American has to do with Disney, and how Plato created the first cliffhanger
CHAPTER 5 – GEOLOGY, MAPS & MURDER
In which an ancient map draws me into a rabbit-hole of brainwash-argumentation, which leads me to ditch my research – and a journalist gets killed. (2016 – 2017)
CHAPTER 6 – FROM UTOPIA TO DYSTOPIA
In which I realise the full extent of the government’s growing corruption and possible involvement in the journalists’ murder, which triggers me to dive back into the Atlantean world of semi-truths.
CHAPTER 7 –
in which I am offered to become temple priestess in Gozo, return to the study of Maltese prehistory, and think about the boundaries of fact and fiction while listening to a concert of Atlantean healing sounds.
CHAPTER 8 – 2019 – the UNREASONABLE and SPIRITUAL
in which I come close to understanding what role Atlantis plays in the tourism industry, how and when the use of the past can become abusive to establish power relations, and what imperialist attitudes have to do with fringe archeology.
CHAPTER 9 – UTOPIAS and BELIEF SYSTEMS
In which I speak with journalists about the connection between old tales and contemporary utopias, about belief-bubbles, about fighting the dark forces, and in which I start seeing a parallel between an ancient Atlantologist’s mindset and 21st century conspiracy theorists.
EPILOGUE – in which the dystopia of contemporary Maltese politics becomes so overwhelming that the voices of Atlantologists turn into positive beacons of hope.
PERFORMANCE-LECTURE at Farfara 2031 HQ at
Studio Eckermann/Nestler, Neulinggasse 9, 1030 Vienna
November 2022
A performance lecture juxtaposing Plato’s mythical island Atlantis and today’s Malta, in order to suggest personal reflections on what we believe in, why we are hooked on utopian stories and how we construct meaning.
Conversation partners/ Interviewees (selection)
Atlantologists
- Hubert Zeitlmair (D/ MAL)
- Kevin Falzon (MAL)
- Thorwald Franke (D): writer of www.atlantis-scout.de
- Francis Aloisio (MAL/USA)
- John Michael Mizzi, (MAL)
Scientists
- Prof. David Trump, archeologist (UK)
- Dr. Reuben Grima, archeologist (MAL)
- Dr. Sharon Sultana, archeologist (MAL)
- Dr. Albert Ganado, Malta Map Society
- Prof. Nesselrath, philologist at Universität Göttingen (D)
Journalists
- Herman Grech, editor in chief of Times of Malta
- Shift News (MAL)
Fictitious or dead
- Plato
- Poseidon
State of Production Production almost finalized Forms Performance-Lecture, Intstallation, Essay-Film Languages English + German ( + Maltese) Concept, Text, Camera, Editing Bettina Hutschek Producer Bettina Hutschek Co-Producer Essay-Film FILMGARNITUR GmbH Ernst-Augustin-Str. 15 12489 Berlin GERMANY Kooperationen/ Partners:
- ESoDOC (Development)
- Malta Find Fund (Development Funding)
- Times of Malta – https://timesofmalta.com/
- University of Malta
- www.atlantis-scout.de