Pandora's Box

Pandora’s Box is a collection of 7 videoperformances by the artist Wassili Widmer. These works build a core of the artist’s practice and have explored the borders and intersections of different styles of performance and video art. The videoperformances were realised in the time between 2019–2024 in Zürich, Lucerne, Frauenfeld, Glasgow, and Cairo.

All works are research-based and explore a topic through performance that is inherently connected to the environment where the work was realised. Furthermore, they’re framed through specifically used filming and editing techniques that accentuate an important side of the work. In their essence, the seven works follow the rules of historical visual performance art, while in their filming style they also sometimes take inspiration from film history. A core element of all works of Pandora’s Box is how human emotions are transmitted through the body and eventually find resonators in other bodies or expression through symbols and actions.

The Greek myth of Pandora's box

The Greek myth of Pandora’s Box is part of the larger story of Prometheus. He was the creator of humankind and gave them fire — a divine power that was meant to belong solely to the gods. Without it, humans were utterly helpless, far weaker than most animals, and lived miserably, hiding in caves. Fire was what made civilization possible, and by giving it to humans, Prometheus made them dangerously powerful in the eyes of the gods.

Feeling pity for the suffering of mankind, Prometheus stole fire once more and gifted it to humanity. This act enraged Zeus, who punished Prometheus severely. But Zeus didn’t stop there — he devised a further punishment: he created Pandora, the first woman, and gave her to humanity along with a mysterious wooden box (or jar) as a wedding gift. He warned her never to open it.

Pandora had been fashioned by Hephaestus from clay, and each Olympian god gave her a unique trait: beauty from Aphrodite, charm and cunning from Hermes, craftsmanship from Athena, and curiosity from Hera — among others. Her name itself means “all-gifted.” Though she looked perfect, she was part of a divine plan. Unable to resist her overwhelming curiosity, Pandora eventually opened the box — and out flew all the evils that would plague humanity: sorrow, disease, vice, violence, greed, madness, old age, and death. Later, she opened the box a second time — and found one final thing still inside: hope.