Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum: The Pavilion: London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE, UK

Galerie Lelong & Co. is pleased to announce a new solo exhibition by Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, The Pavilion, on view at London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE, UK through January 13, 2024.

Located on the ground floor of the London Mithraeum, Bloomberg SPACE showcases a series of contemporary art commissions responding and bringing fresh perspectives to the site’s rich archaeological history.

Inspired by the history of the site, Sunstrum explores how the public engages with archives and artifacts, and their presentation in museum spaces. The Pavilion (2023) is a wooden structure comprising a promenade of interrelated viewing booths reminiscent of Victorian ‘cabinets of curiosities’, often considered precursors to museums. The intricate cabinetry, designed in collaboration with Remco Osório Lobato, will house a selection of Sunstrum’s animations dating from 2007–2016 that draw on the artist’s fascination with ancient mythologies, scientific theories, mythological archetypes and the cosmos.

Exploring the public’s relationship with museums and archives, The Pavilion encourages visitors to experience the installation in numerous ways, reading the elements individually, and together as a whole. On one side of the structure, each animation is presented in a way tailored to the specific work, featuring silent analog screens, recessed views and portals. On the reverse side, viewers will discover an area of contemplation adorned with multifaceted furnishings hand-painted and embellished by Sunstrum with references to the films on view, the cosmos, and a poem by the artist.

“The mysterious unknowns of the myth of Mithras, central to the history of the London Mithraeum, resonated with my own fascination with ancient mythologies. I’m interested in interpreting – and often deliberately misinterpreting – theories on the structure and origins of the universe. Read as a whole, the animations and furnishings of The Pavilion will offer a poetic cosmogony and personal interpretation of the order of things: stars, earth forms, the insides, the outsides, and the beyond-what-we-can-see.”

- Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum