Panos Profitis
Genius Loci Notes on Places

Panos Profitis participates in two exhibitions as part of the project “Genius Loci. Notes on Places” organized by Kunstverein Ludwigshafen in Germany. His work is featured in the exhibition “Lessons of History”, on view across Museum Schlosspark, Römerhalle, and Fondation Kubach-Wilmsen in Bad Kreuznach (23 May – 26 October 2025), as well as in “Laurus Nobilis: Chapters on Art and Life” at Müller-Catoir in Neustadt (8 June – 31 August 2025).

The Kunstverein Ludwigshafen is dedicating its 2025 annual program to the essayist, philosopher and staunch pacifist Vernon Lee (Violet Paget). Lee (1856-1935) was ahead of her time: as a politically uncomfortable free spirit, she published travelogues, philosophical essays and political pamphlets under a male pseudonym. The Kunstverein’s program explores her work on the construction of linear national narratives, both in the past and in the present.

The nomadic format “Genius Loci” refers with its title to a key work by Lee, in which she turned to aestheticism early on and fragmentarily focused on the essence and atmosphere of a place. The Kunstverein Ludwigshafen is presenting a series of exhibitions inspired by Lee, spanning five cities in Rhineland-Palatinate: Ludwigshafen, Speyer, Bad Kreuznach, Neustadt a. d. Weinstraße and Mainz. Each exhibition takes up a specific theme from Lee’s works, including The Ballet of the Nations: A Present-Day Morality, Beauty and Ugliness, Lessons of History, Laurus Nobilis: Chapters on Art and Life and Vital Lies: Studies of Some Varieties of Recent Obscurantism.

The artistic works in the program question supposedly incontrovertible images of history and invite us to reflect on the subjectivity of historical narratives. They illustrate how preconceived ideas and ideological concepts lead to distortions of the claim to truth and authenticity in art, history and politics. The exhibition program “Genius Loci” illustrates aspects of different cultural currents in order to highlight the interplay of historical, cultural and social contexts. Like Lee, the artists criticize the dangers of a one-dimensional understanding of history and oppose the abbreviated representation of different cultures in the name of nationalistic dominant cultures.

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