— in other words on the question of evil, divine retribution and redemption at the heart of the cosmic drama: the flood.

Arranged between copies and casts of the most famous works of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the great vessel is there, surrounded by the summits of Western memory …

The artist turns the idea of the story on which it is based on its head. He breaks the alliance between God and man. No celestial punishment has been imposed on the ark – the barbarism laid bare by the artist has originated purely in the violence inherent in communal life.

Here, then, as with Plato’s allegory of the cavern, which illustrates the impossibility of mankind having access to knowledge of reality, the artist inverts the function of myths by observing what theysay about us rather than what they say about our gods. Thus, in place of the theological aspects of these founding tales, he substitutes an anthropology with a reflection on mankind