Re-interpreting the myth of Leda and the Swan – Vortic in conversation with Audrey Niffenegger

Discover further insight behind the hybrid exhibition, LEDA and the SWAN: a myth of creation and destruction, as Audrey Niffenegger shares insights and revelations in our enlightening conversation.

LEDA and the SWAN was a hybrid exhibition curated by Dr Minna Moore Ede, realised by Vortic Curated in collaboration with Victoria Miro Gallery. Featuring new work by sixteen artists across various media, each offering a diverse response to the myth of Leda and the Swan. These interpretations reveal insight into contemporary preoccupations, both personal or universal.

In the words of the curator, “What I understood from Leonardo and Michelangelo’s portrayals of this myth…was that these ancient tales were often vehicles that fuelled the artists’ imagination, through which they could explore ideas that were important to them. These stories carried meaning, but that meaning changed according to the culture that was responding to it. The artists in this exhibition continue in this tradition, bringing Leda into the twenty-first century.”

During the physical exhibition, the experience was enhanced by Vortic’s Mixed Reality (MR) activation. Once a headset was applied, an augmented wall appears within the exhibition space, highlighting works from Antiquity through to the Renaissance. This original display enabled Masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo to be shown life-size within the gallery space. Operated with your hands, this interactive wall was further illuminated by the Curator’s commentary, which guides you through each piece, contextualising the divergence in interpretation between a historical and Contemporary audience. 

Audrey Niffenegger talks about her experiences shaping her artwork and exploring the digital exhibition.

Vortic had the privilege of speaking with Audrey Niffenegger, whose artwork, Black Swan Infiltration, forms part of the exhibition. In this discussion, she delves into her reinterpretation of the myth of Leda and the Swan, drawing from her personal experience with cancer. She also provides further details about her work and accompanying piece of text.

She explains her decision to incorporate a black swan into her artwork, her piece is one of the only works in the exhibition to feature one: “The idea of a black swan, the phrase has come to mean something very unusual, a rare occurrence and the reason I wanted to invoke the idea of a black swan has to do with how I felt about having cancer… You just don’t really expect that things like that will happen to you.”

Audrey wrote a piece of text for the show.

The swan was not a god, he was only a disease. Leda was just a girl, made of ordinary things: blood and guts, night terrors, bright ideas in abandoned notebooks. She didn’t know she was being ravished until it was too late. She was constructed to be invaded; she was taken over cell by cell.
The swan said, Is this love?
No, Leda said, you are a stranger.
The swan said, If you won’t love me, at least let me warm myself with your dreams.
I need my dreams––use your own, Leda replied.
I have no dreams, my sleep is made of black water, said the swan. Let me in, I want to be you.
No, said Leda. You can’t dream, so you can never be me.
The swan practised dreaming but forgot every morning and had to begin again. Leda dreamt she gave birth to two large eggs, and absentmindedly left them on a park bench without discovering what might hatch. She dreamt of enormous wings and flexed her fingers in her sleep, anticipating flight.

In reference to the text she says, “The text is a little more lighthearted, a little bit more humorous…The text was trying to point people a little bit more at the subject matter. I was getting at you might not immediately identify what was going on.”

In regards to the digital show, Audrey highlights how it enabled her to see the exhibition: “I was grateful to be able to see the show digitally because I’m in Chicago and I wasn’t able to be in London for the show. So I’m one of those people who is only going to see it online. So I thought it was terrific that it was available.”

LEDA and the SWAN: a myth of creation and destruction is on view from 1 December 2023 to 13 January 2024 at Victoria Miro, London and on Vortic.art.