Empedocles
conception and translation, Maxime Kurvers
text, fragments from The Death of Empedocles by Friedrich Hölderlin (1798)
scenographic element from short pieces 1-9, performance premiered on April 09, 2015, at Ménagerie de verre – Paris, as part of the Étrange Cargo festival
production MDCCCLXXI ; coproduction pièces courtes 1-9 (2015) La Ménagerie de verre – Paris, La Commune CDN d'Aubervilliers
installation created on May 14, 2026, at Théâtre Garonne as part of L’Histoire à venir festival
« So, dare it ! What you have inherited,
what you have acquired,
what your fathers' lips told you, taught you,
laws and customs,
names of the ancient gods,
boldly forget them, and, like newborns,
look up to divine Nature.»
Friedrich Hölderlin, The Death of Empedocles, 1798.
This installation stands in the shadow of the mythical gesture of the Agrigento philosopher. For Empedocles, prophetic speech can only arise through a total act: sacrifice by fire. From the three unfinished versions of the eponymous tragic poem written by Hölderlin at the turn of the 19th century, Maxime Kurvers presents a statement he envisions as a manifesto: a program for the organization of theatrical work, as well as an invitation to conceive an eco-communist utopia. Throwing himself into the crater of Mount Etna, the philosopher seals his fusion with the elements, inscribing this phrase : Dies ist die Zeit der Könige nicht mehr ("This is no longer the time of kings"), to which another responds : Wie du bist, so ist meine Freude ("As you are, so is my joy").
© Maxime Kurvers
©MDCCCLXXI