George Henry Longly – The Liberator
A scan of Dionysus from the Parthenon Marbles, The Liberator is reimagined as a corporate avatar — serene, abstracted, and subtly estranged from its classical origin.
Image of The Liberator as part of the We All Love Your Life exhibition taken at Red Bull Studios in New York City, 2016.
George Henry Longly is a long-time collaborator of Shoreditch Arts Club, previously selected as the recipient of our moving image commission in Spring of 2023, with physical works Point Nemo and Challenger Deep currently on view. Drawing from museology, anthropology, pop music culture, consumerism and current affairs, Longly’s practice locates a sense of now in relation to expansive pasts and futures. Shoreditch Arts Club is excited to displayThe Liberator, originally from his 2016 exhibition We All Love Your Life at Red Bull Arts NYC.
Khton by Joey Holder (left), The Liberator by George Henry Longly (right) on view at Shoreditch Arts Club.
The sculpture occupies dual roles: both protagonist and astronaut aboard the fictional space station that forms the exhibition's setting.
Part monument, part mask, The Liberator explores the mythology of identity, labor, and leisure in a hyper-mediated, post-capitalist landscape. The work juxtaposes ancient iconography with contemporary modes of representation — a meditation on transcendence, alienation, and the commodification of the self.
Dionysus, also known as the Liberator (Eleutherios), was the ancient Greek god of wine, festivity, and religious ecstasy. He was revered for liberating his followers from self-consciousness, fear, and social constraints through the ecstatic experiences induced by wine, music, and dance. His worship often involved rituals that challenged established norms and boundaries.
Dionysus, ancient Greek god of wine, festivities, madness, and religious ecstasy
Liberation through Ecstasy
Dionysus's power to liberate was not just about physical freedom, but also about freeing individuals from psychological and social constraints.
The Power of Wine
The intoxicating effects of wine were central to his worship, believed to alter consciousness and allow individuals to shed their inhibitions.
Challenging Authority
Dionysus's worship often occurred outside the established social order, with rituals performed by women, slaves, and foreigners.
Religious Significance
Dionysus was associated with mystery religions, which focused on death and rebirth, promising believers a new beginning after death.
His symbols included the thyrsus (a fennel stalk tipped with a pine cone), the grapevine, and various animals like the bull and goat. The myth of his miraculous birth, either from Zeus's thigh or his recreation from his heart, added to his mystique and association with death and resurrection.
The Liberator, 2016 by George Henry Longly, currently installed at Shoreditch Arts Club.
George Henry Longly (b.1978) is a London-based multidisciplinary artist. Drawing from museology, anthropology, pop music culture, consumerism and current affairs, Longly’s practice locates a sense of now in relation to expansive pasts and futures. The notion of an overarching relative timeline is implicit in his working process. Moving between sculpture, installation, performance, video and audio; Longly implements disparate mediums, industries and genres as the tools of analysis for another.
Click here to read our previous interview with George Henry Longly on his moving image commission ISIT (Zero G), ISIT (Deep Sea), and We All Love Your Life, curated by Tony Tremlett and Ruth Waters.
