DISCIPLINING THE SUPERNATURAL: ANGELOS TANAGRAS, A MEMOIR OF A MODERN ENCOUNTER

DISCIPLINING THE SUPERNATURAL: ANGELOS TANAGRAS, A MEMOIR OF A MODERN ENCOUNTER

Kosmas Nikolaou and Myrto Katsimicha
Literary Society Parnassos, Athens
23 █ May █ 2023
19 █ 30 - 21 █ 00

In this event visual artist Kosmas Nikolaou and curator Myrto Katsimicha explore the life and work of Angelos Tanagras (1877-1971), a doctor and prominent figure in Athenian intellectual circles who dedicated his life to the scientific exploration of supernatural phenomena. In 1923 Tanagras founded the Hellenic Society for Psychophysiology, which was known for long-distance telepathy experiments that attempted to connect Athens to Paris, Vienna, Oslo, and New York. At a time when scientific research was the dominant means of producing knowledge and perceiving reality and Greece was looking for new visions for the future, Tanagras embarked on the systematic study of the supernatural.

In a lecture-performance Nikolaou will present archival material and stories about Tanagras that he and Katsimicha collected in order to consider the place of the supernatural in Greek modernity. Taking as a starting point memorabilia from his own great-grandfather, a founding member of the Hellenic Society for Psychophysiology, Nikolaou will trace his search for a lost film––the supposed proof of the supernatural powers of Cleo (Koula Gkioka), the Society’s only telekinetic medium.

The event will be conducted in Greek.

Image: “5th National Psychophysiology Convention, August, 26-30, 1935, Oslo, Norway.” Koumartzes, Nikolaos. 2017. Angelos Tanagras: To khameno imeroloyio (Angelos Tanagras: The Lost Diary). Daidalos: Thessaloniki.

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