PERFUME BOTTLE CREATED IN COLLABORATION WITH JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND IS ON DISPLAY AT PARTICIPANT INC.

Stemming from Justin Vivian Bond’s recent performances at The Kitchen, research of the Galli, gender variant priests/priestesses of the goddess Cybele, also known as “tree bearers” in Phrygian mythology—continues with a new limited edition made especially for the exhibition currently at Participant Inc. - The Fall of the House of Whimsy (open through December 18, 2011). This bronze sculpture, designed in collaboration with artist/jeweler Jelena Behrend, was created in homage to the youthful male consort of Cybele, Attis, and will house a fragrance-in-progress for Etat libre d’orange by Ralf Schwieger, inspired by Justin Bond and the Galli. According to Randy P. Connor’s Blossom of Bone, Attis was a goat herder and high priest who bore similarities to Adonis, Pan, and other vegetation deities. In order to avoid an arranged marriage to, the daughter of King Midas, and out of loyalty to Cybele and his gender variant lover the eunuch Agdistis, Attis self-castrates under a pine tree, and the bride gives herself an Amazonian-esque half mastectomy. Before Attis can bleed to death, Zeus refuses the pleas of Cybele and Agdistis to spare his life, but instead preserves Attis’ body in a vampiric state, leaving only one finger in eternal motion. According to mythology, the finger in perpetual motion is a symbol of anal eroticism and sexual variance, referred to as “siphnianizing.”

Participant Inc. is located at 253 E. Houston St. New York, NY.