THE SECRET SCHOOL

The Secret School I | The Secret School II | The Secret School III

 The Secret School is a performative interactive project based on the popular narrative of the Greek myth, which debunks the historical discourse. Originally located in situ within a World War II bomb-shelter in Canonbury-London, the project acted as a living installation for the artist over the course of a year, and was offered to public interaction just prior to the London Bombings of 2005 in an act of re-contextualization.‘’According to the secret school narrative, during the Ottoman suppression, the Greek populace were used to secretly organise underground schools in churches, monasteries and on other subterranean grounds at dark, in an effort to sustain their education. ‘’Mitrentse lives the myth to mark the cohabitation of the site. She constructs subversive counter cultural associations acting out a series of interventions, carried out from dark until dawn. A montage of re-appropriated cultural and scientific artifacts, natural objects, poetry and drawings on black boards, photographs , industrial sound pieces, and the use of symbols recurrent in art history, science, Victorian & spiritual believes systems (Noted-ropes, The light, The Circle) are all personalized within the laboratory of the everyday suggesting poetic ensembles that propose the deconstruction of our conceptual mechanism. The artist brings all the artifacts together in a non-hierarchical setting to question the processes of observing, collecting and displaying in a number of institutions i.e school, library, church, academia and museum.The Secret School alludes to an esoteric system that reveals the heteroclite notions of Religion, Education, Cultural Renaissance and Political freedom, – this being at the Greek enlightenment ideology, – that form a relational site in contemporary society. It is designed to function as heterotopy in which the question of how we perceive knowledge can be communicated. The materialisation of the psychosocial atmosphere fabricated as cultural and spiritual Shelter, is offered to any ‘homeless’ population.

The Secret School went on to win an international cultural competition and formed a large part of the cyclic 24/7 provocative and apocalyptic theatrical production ‘Terra Extremitas- The End of the Earth’, which took place at NDSM-werf in Amsterdam 2008.

‘It is the found church; a Secret School, which teaches the audience/survivors the true purpose of the fictional reality by providing access to alchemist’s objects, offering direct experience’.
John Harrigan, Theater director London

A Site Specific interactive exhibition with series of workshops, World War II bomb Shelter Canonbury London 2005. The space used as a living installation for the artist over the course of a year prior to the opening for public interaction

Site specific interactive project in-situ as part of the apocalyptic theatrical production ‘Terra Extremitas- The End of the Earth’, Amsterdam 2008. NDSM-werf.

In Situ interactive installation presented as part of ‘The Museum of the People’, South London 2009