Gnosis Iluminada

The former 17th-century convent of Santa Mònica in Barcelona, today the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica, housed a library of which more than 500 volumes are currently preserved at the University of Barcelona. The study of a selection of these books served as the beginning for this artistic project. These works articulate the scholastic thought of Thomas Aquinas, who introduced Aristotelian philosophy into Western thinking - including essentialism, which from a contemporary point of view is most problematic. In Gnosis Iluminada, they are returned to their place of origin. In the cloisters and crypts a play with time unfolds, channeling queer and non-normative countercultural responses that question the Western Gnostic tradition. Through visions and leaps in time, an academic has a range of experiences, including a meeting with Hildegard von Bingen and a group of angels singing a Madonna song. This playful and multifaceted audiovisual project also highlights the inherent tension in the exploration of the new epistemologies at universities traditionally associated with the dissemination of classical thought. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)