On the evening of March 9th, 2020 we performed a site specific production of a fragment from the lost tragedy Laocoön by Sophocles at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Sophocles Laocoön is part of a larger project called IOTA that brings to life the fragments for the lost plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
The Fragment
And fire shines on the altar in the street
as it sends up a vapor from drops of myrrh,
exotic scents.
Poseidon, you who range over the capes of the Aegean
or in the depths of the gray sea rule over the windswept waters above the lofty cliffs…
And now at the gates stands Aeneas,
the son of the goddess,
carrying on his shoulders his father
with his linen robe
stained with the discharge
caused by the lightning,
and about him
the whole horde of his servants.
And with him follows a crowd,
you cannot imagine how great,
of those who are eager to take part
in this migration of the Phrygians.
When one is no longer weary, labors are delightful.
For one takes no account
of trouble that is in the past.
The Location
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive located in the former UC printing plant (printed the official UN Charter in 1945) that was redesigned in 2013 by the New York firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Located at 2120 Oxford Street in downtown Berkeley.
Babatunji Johnson and Aleta Hayes