Category: Mythology

The Giants: Blunderbore

November 21, 2023 By arne hendriks Off

Although contemporary man can be considered a giant, we do not see ourselves as such. In fact we generally distance ourselves from the giant by associating them with forms of evil so outrageous that it doesn’t affect our sense of self. By short investigations of…

Court Dwarfs

December 6, 2020 By arne hendriks Off

If we are to overcome the irrational prejudice against smallness we must understand how its current perception is the cumulative result of past ways of seeing. Rather than being an abstraction such ‘traditions of perception’ can often be traced back to specific historical traditions and…

Abundance Fantasies: Fish Story

December 6, 2014 By arne hendriks 0

In our series on Abundance Fantasies we explore how a deeply rooted desire for abundance manifests itself in our vocabulary, our myths and legends, and our cultural artefacts. The question is how we can activate these cultural pathways to initiate the desire to become smaller,…

Abundance Fantasies: The Alasitas Pathway

March 7, 2014 By arne hendriks 0

From an early age the miniature teaches us to want. During childhood toys in all sorts and shapes create the pathways for  a grown-up desire for material abundance. The promise is right there, in the palm of your hand: toy cars, doll’s houses, miniature cattle and…

Dreadlocked Cryptids

November 4, 2013 By arne hendriks 0

The Jakarta Post reports that rangers patrolling the Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra Indonesia claim to have sighted dozens of unknown pygmies in a number of areas across the park on at least two different occasions. According to them, the pygmies had waist long dreadlocks,…

Abundance Fantasies: Cornucopia

June 6, 2013 By arne hendriks 1

In the Abundance fantasies we explore the origin and contemporary meaning of symbols, stories and tropes of abundance. People have an insatiable desire for more, but in reality we constantly have to cope with scarcity. Perhaps the activation of an abundance iconography will help further ignite…

Abundance Fantasies: Cockaigne

May 23, 2013 By arne hendriks 1

“And still I’ve more to tell of it; The geese when roasted on the spit Fly to the abbey (believe it or not) And cry out ‘Geese, all hot, all hot!’ With garlic in great quantity, The best-dressed geese a man could see. The larks are…

Subliminal Tinker Bell

November 9, 2012 By arne hendriks Off

If we want to convince mankind that we should downsize the human body it will not be sufficient to present the endocrinological and genetic possibilities to shrink, or point out the amount of damage we are causing because of human size, or any of the…

Court Dwarfs: Seneb & Bes

September 26, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

In ancient Egypt a remarkable number of dwarfs gained prestigious roles within the dynasty. This can be concluded from the remains of their lavish burials. Egypt’s best known dwarf was Seneb, which means healthy. His career is documented on the false door and the plinths of…

Anthropology of Small Mythological Characters

July 11, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

Undoubtedly myths have some responsibility for how we define our relationship with the small. Mythical explanations of the world often present small beings as metaphors for the unexplainable. The small have become a space to project human desires, fears, ideals and ideas. Knowledge of this vast…

The Dactylian Five

June 24, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

Frenchman Florent Marrot participated in a series of 10 weekly explorations of shrinking mankind at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. One of his rather curious responses to the idea of becoming smaller was to divide himself into five 50 cm small versions of himself, thus…

Shrink to Power

February 19, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

Popular culture is ripe with examples of the playful desire to shrink. We’ve reported before on the peculiar desire of some people to sexually fantasize about very small men, and women especially. But not all forms of microphilia are of an erotic nature. On the…