Screenshot from Eidolon (Xanthe Dobbie, 2021) — Xanthe Dobbie
EIDOLON is a fanatical ode to the image - a myth built on fragmented histories. In the year 2000 Jennifer Lopez wore a green, Jungle-print dress designed by Donatella Versace, so iconic that she broke the internet and Google had to invent Google Images just to keep up. A few thousand years before, Helen of Troy’s face launched a thousand ships, kick-starting the legendary Trojan War. However, some say Helen never even went to Troy, that a carbon copy sculpted by the Gods - an eidolon - was sent in her place. If so, the ten year war was fought for an illusion. Our time is drenched in images and images of images. Merging past, present, and potential futures, this desktop performance dredges the internet, conflating facts and fictions in an act of post-truth digital myth-making.
The 2021 new-media work by Xanthe Dobbie for Sydney Opera House, with sound and music by Jorde Heys, explores the concept of Helen of Troy's eidolon, and its legacy in the digital age. Namely that of the establishment of Google Images after Jennifer Lopez wore a green Versace dress to the 42nd Grammy Awards in the year 2000.
Stream at — https://stream.sydneyoperahouse.com/videos/shortwave-xanthe-dobbie-eidolon