Pantheon

The main theme of “Pantheon” is the relationship between our cultural heritage and the individual - what do we as humans remember and value from our legacy and how it affects the decisions we make today.

With “Pantheon” Mart Kangro continues to unfold the paradoxes of collective memory and the related themes of pride and humbleness. Is there anything we can sanctify as we look back at human history? What can we as humans, to use a well-worn expression, to be proud of? Proud to be… Makes me proud… Really? What have we achieved? Is there anything in our cultural heritage full of controversy and terror that does not offend someone or something? Any nice stories? Do we even believe the stories we are told? Yet, there must be something. Something to cherish and worth to be passed on?

“Pantheon” is a romantic attempt to celebrate humanity through the old fashioned act of storytelling. A poetic reminder of what has been or is. Maybe even fantasizes about the future. Like letting your imagination run wild when listening to a bedtime story or a fairy tale, “Pantheon” tries to wonder how big narratives come together in small things. How the fragments matter.

The performance takes two masterpieces of our cultural heritage as the point of departure. The large-scale unfinished work by German art historian Aby Warburg “Das Bilderatlas Mnemosyne” (1929) and The Pantheon of Rome, a well-known architectural monument. More detailed explanation about the role of these references in the production can be found in the chapter Material.