The reconciliation of Prometheus and Hermes
The Millennium Night. VPRO-Television. In collaboration with Tara Elders as Hermes / Pagageno. Further contributions by Wim de Bie, Lia Dorana, Rudi Fuchs, Ronald Plasterk, Klaas Vos. Nederlands Audiovisueel Archief te Hilversum: TD41811 (DIGI-BETA) V76681 (VHS). The Millennium Night of VPRO TV was a 24 hour series of individual contributions of each three minutes. My contribution “The reconciliation of Prometheus and Hermes” was a Socratic dialogue, in which Prometheus and Hermes are asking questions about the alienation between two mainstreams in European culture, viz. the classic and the romantic mind. Prometheus gave the humans the Fire that belonged to the gods; Hermes (Papageno in The Magic Flute) is the ‘tertium datur’, the one who solves contradictions, knowing that there is always a third possibility. He communicates between the visible and invisible dimensions. The title refers to the reconcilation between Enlightenment and Illumination.
