Hiding Art, Hiding Codes and the Comic Strategies of Total Disappearing / Yiannis Melanitis

YIANNIS MELANITIS
I f You Can n ot Be An Ow l,
M a s q u e r a d e Li k e A Bu t t e r f ly
HIDING ART, HIDING CODES
AND
THE STRATEGIES OF DISAPPEARING

Yiannis Melanitis
Hiding Art, Hiding Codes and the Comic Strategies of Total Disappearing
The artist, hidden inside the work of art
Hiding human code inside an insect
The Melanitis leda Project1, was about a transgenic model of the Leda Melanitis butterfly using one of Yiannis Melanitis
genes (optix gene 6). Leda Melanitis took its name from Linnaeus 1758 and is the Common Evening Brown of the Containing
group: Melanitini. A breed of transgenic butterflies containing a gene of human origin, the first artistic cross-species
insect-to-human genetic artwork miss-expressed a protein in order to acquire ectopic eyes in other parts of its body2. The genesis
of a hybrid butterfly was an effort to delimit an object (an organism), in relation to the concept that is expressed by its name.
The project was realized in 2017 with the first breed grown in Athens (technical collaboration by M.Papagiannarou)3. As stated
in an interview to M. Savini4: By adding information to the core of the natural world we are in a procedure of conceptualizing
life...Thus, what instantly emerged in search of a new artwork, was the need to underscore language, text and the code, as a set
of values. That is a systematized set, subject to re-formations, re-programming and “mutations”, sensitive in entropy just like the
human body is. The scope of the work was to encrypt the artist’s name inside the genome of an insect.
Image 1: Transgenic Leda Melanitis butterfly, Athens/
image © Y. Melanitis 2017.
Image 2: adult butterfly Leda Melanitis as presented at MACRO
Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, 2018, photo by M.Savini
Image 3: Genomic DNA of Yiannis Melanitis, Athens/ image © Y. Melanitis 2017

An example of hidden coding is the encryption of the word BACH within the structure of the fugue by
the composer himself in his latest work (Art of the Fugue / Die Kunst Der Fuge). The third theme of the unfinished
quadruple fugue begins with the sequence of “BACH” notes. On the unfinished score of ‘Fugue Art’, the
son of the composer noted that at this point Johannes Sebastian was dying, hiding in his musical notation his name
with matches B = Si recession, A = La, C = Do, H = Si. J.S.Bach’s son Carl Philip, who published his father’s incomplete
work, wrote in the original manuscript:” At the point where the composer introduces the name BACH
[for which the English notation would be BH-A-C-HJ] in the countersubject to this fugue, the composer died.” 5
In DNA and music, chains of information are following similar patterns: for the preservation of energy,
some organisms have codes that can be decoded also backwards (hepadnaviruses are reverse transcribing viruses or
RT viruses/ see: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/reverse-transcribing-virus).
This pattern is common in the music structure of a fugue. In a piece of a fugue synthesis, we include Retrogrades,
Augmentations and Dimunitions which mainly are patterns for maintaining minimal losses as information
is distributed; same procedures occur among biological systems.
D. Hofstadter6 compares the way dna is decoded in nature to music synthesis patterns:
When the two DNA strands are un-ravelled and laid out side by side, they read this way: ...TTTTTTTTTC-
GAAAAAAAAA. ...AAAAAAAAAGCTTTTTTTTT... Notice that they are the same, only one goes forwards
while the other goes backwards. This is the defining property of the form called “crab canon” in music. It is reminiscent
of, though a little different from, a palindrome, which is a sentence that reads the same backwards and
forwards. In molecular biology, such segments of DNA are called “palindromes”—a slight misnomer, since “crab
canon” would be more accurate.
Image 4:
DNA’s crab canon/ image from
D. Hofstadter;s “ Gödel, Escher, Bach”
Image 5: The final page of Contrapunctus XIV, The Unfinished
Fugue, “ueber dieser Fuge, wo der Nahme B A C H im Contrasubject
angebracht worden, ist Der Verfaßer gestorben ( image
source: Berlin State Library, Germany)

Images 6-12: Transgenic Leda Melanitis butterfly, lab processing by M. Papagiannarou/ images © Y. Melanitis 2016-18

Images 13-16 : Transgenic Leda Melanitis butterfly, lab processing/ images © Y. Melanitis 2017

Artists’ Name as a Camouflage Tool
“Cyclops, you asked my noble name, and I will tell it; but do you give the stranger’s gift,
just as you promised. My name is Nobody. Nobody I am called by mother, father,
and by all my comrades.”
( Odyssey, Chapter 9., line 366)
[Οὖτις ἐμοί γ᾽ ὄνομα· Οὖτιν δέ με κικλήσκουσι
μήτηρ ἠδὲ πατὴρ ἠδ᾽ ἄλλοι πάντες ἑταῖροι.᾽]
Outis is a fake, self-invented name given to Polyphemus for deceiving him by its double meaning. In front of Cyclops,
Odysseus names himself Οὖτις, usually translated as Nobody or as Noman, as in James Joyce’s Ulysses, chapter 17, entitled Ithaca.
Lidell-Scott lexicon 7 inaccurately refers to Οὖτις=Ού-τις as “anyone”, a man answering the question “who? In ancient Greek, the
indefinite pronoun τις (= someone) is used either as an adjective or as a noun only in affirmative sentences. In negative sentences
the words οὐδεὶς και μηδείς are used. Nevertheless, Outis etymology means not someone (όχι κάποιος).
Later, when Odysseus leaves the land of Cyclopes and Polyphemus blinded, declares his reemerged identity: I am Odysseus,
son of Laertes, known among men for all manner of wiles, 1 and my fame reaches unto heaven (Odyssey, book 9, 20). At this
point, the Homeric poet directs, for the first time, the emergence of an “ego” ... The body is in the process of emerging from the
pre-epic milieu in the ego’s field of action, to the realization of its individuality. This is accomplished in two main ways: Originally
invoked by Odysseus in front of the Cyclops and later by challenging the god Poseidon 8 .... The lost body appears through speech,
words and their significance; text is the weapon of the new era.
The Homeric Outis is the main character of James Joyce’s Ulysses. Joyce wrote 9 : The most beautiful, all-embracing theme
is that of the Odyssey... His interest in Odysseus is the fragility of this character, a human among senseless warriors, the way he uses
his brain to hide, his inventions to escape a war he never wanted to participate. Joyce says: Don’t forget that he was a war dodger
who tried to evade military service by simulating madness. He might never have taken up arms and gone to Troy, but the Greek
recruiting sergeant was too clever for him and, while he was ploughing the sands, placed young Telemachus in front of his plough.
Simulating madness is the artistic technique analysed here.
Odysseus is the model of a modern man that Ezra Pound sees himself entangled to while writing the Cantos, after his
imprisonment in a cage in post-war Italy:
OYTΙΣ
άχρονος
now there are no more days
oύτις
άχρονος
This passage from Ezra Pound’s CantoLXXX 10 contains the greek words άχρονος (out of time) and oύτις (no-man). In
the Homeric Odyssey, the text degenerates not the body itself, but its corporeality (Outis exists as one, hereinafter referred to as
someone who “does not exist”, unknowing). If the body is still there, this is not done by some identifiable name; so the code of
Outis means more than the meaning of the word. A non-person cannot mean someone who does not exist; he stands before Cyclops
and speaks. His codified camouflage makes him stand “ out of time ¨; quite the same for a biological code that dynamically
contains information of a body-it serves as encryption in time. An example is head codification in animals:

By developmental terms, genes control the identity of body segments. Genomic sequences
may express body parts; a code corresponds to a body encrypted in a text, as in
the Lhx1 genomic sequence 11. The presence of the Lhx1 genomic sequence indicates
whether or not the head is present at the embryonic stage. If this sequence is removed
during embryogenesis in the Lim1 gene (see image), the head of the organism does
not grow. This does not mean that duplication of code gives two heads. (the biological
code also contains the way the DNA bases are read to become proteins and assemble
any tissue).
image 17: head-to-DNA code correspondance,
by Shawlot and Behringer, 1995
image17a: Lhx1 genomic sequence corresponding to a mouse head
gcgggccggacagcgacaccggcaatccgcgccaaactgttccagccgctggccttctatagccgcagccccaggacattctaaagctctccaagacgccccctcccctggcttctcgcgttgaccaaggaaaagaaaaagggagggaaaaagaaaggaaggagactagaaagaaaacccagatttgccaccgcacaaaaagagaggtgggggggacaaggaaaaaaaaaaaagtcgagcgactgtggggccggaacacaggcagcgggatcgtgggccgagcgatgcaaggctgcgcgcccaagcggccgcgagttgtgactgaagccaggatgctcgtccaggcgcagtgaagagccagaccgtgttgcctccccaggagtccaagcgcagggagggccgctcggaggacgcggcagactgcctggcaggccaccggccgaggtgacagggctggggcggtggggagcgagcgagtgcgcccggctgcgtccgcccgaagcggacggtccctttccatttttgactggcacaaaaaagaaaactctccaaaggggtgggggctacctaagcaacaactacaatcaacaaaatatcctacccaacccgccatctcccccacacctcggtctgcccccgccccctccccaggcccagcgcgggcgcccagagcgtcccaactcactgcaagaaaccggcaatgtaggatccaaagctttctactcccgtgttcttttctttccgtgttttttttaaaggggaaaacccggtggtgggcagtctgacacgcacacaacctgccttcatactctgacaaaagcagatgcactttgacttctgacagctctacctcaagctggagagaacccagctttcccgaatcctgagctcttggcgtcttccttttcgtctgtttccattttatttatttacgtcccgccgcctctcacggtgaccttcactccttcgcgggctttgagcagaagagccgctttctagcccgcttgagactgattttcctcgcccggtgagctgaggtggcgctgctccatcccgttgccccgggactccggggctgccctctaccagcctggtctctcccccttttgatttgctagtacgggttttttgcttgcccaactagagagggtttcttctttttggaggagctggttgtcttcagaagtcatcccctcgactctaattgccctgtcgctccgggcctcaccggaccaaaccaaagaccatggtgcactgtgcgggctgcaaaaggcccatcctggaccgtttcctcttgaacgtgttggacagggcctggcacgtcaagtgcgtccagtgctgtgaatgtaaatgcaacctgaccgagaagtgcttctcccgggaaggcaagctctactgtaaaaacgacttcttccggtgagtacttccctcccgcgcctctgttgctccttccccatgggcccttccaggccagcttcggatcagaggtctgtgtggctctagcagccgcgttaggagctgccttttactagggcagcccagtcttttcccgcttctaccttttaggaagctagtcggtattgcgagatatattaattttctctttatctttttataaacacatcagctgtagtacttggttctggaaagcgtggtccgggtttggctgcccgcgcctgggaagaaagggtctgagatggcttcagctcagcagccctaacaaggcgagggagaggtggagcagcctcggggttgcagctctcgcttgcctttcccgaagccaagctctccagcaaccaaagacgttttctggttctcccagcttgttggttctccaagttgagcttagaggctccagctttattccagtccctgcctcttccttctccaagagatcttgtcggaactacagagcccttgtggcccagaaagccacaataaagagtccgaccttgaggccaatcctgtatgtctatgggtctccccaaacgtggattggcctctaagcatagacctgggagaaccgtgcggttcgattttggcctcagaccaatgctcaggctcctcttcgtgcctttccagccaatgccccacaaggaaggccacctcttggcggctcgttagaaccgggaaaattctcttctgtttaccattttacatgtattttcttaaactctttgtcccgatcacaactcaacagaacagaatggctccgaatgtaaattatatttcccagtgatttgaaatcccacactttacttcgctattttggtcttggtttctgaggctttcccaaatctgggggagagttcgaagctccccggcctccatttgcccaaaggccctggaagcgcagtccccagaggcgattcaggacgcgcgtggcttgtgtttgcaaaagagcccggaagcaaagatcggtgcaatctgctgctgaggaaaggctgagttttggagtttctgcagactgcgcaggtttttactctggaaagcagagtcagagtctgagagcctaagccacaccggcttgcggggcccgcggggcccttgaggcctcgctaaccgcaaagctcagcagggcacctaaagccggctcaacccggcgtcagctcccgcttgcgccaatctgccaggcttttgcgcaagagcgtggcaagagcccagctacgggcacggaggctctcggagtcagggtttgtttactcaccgcgagatcggactttgccaactccccgcctgagcgcaggcccttttatggtgaaagaaaggcaaagcaagcggaagatagcggggtatttatttctacggagctcttaatttggatttaacttctttgaagataaccgggaaatatgtgctgtttccccttatgctctcgtagctactttgaggctttttcctgcgacgcttttttcgtggggggcaataactaggcatgaggttagagataggggccttaactctaaccgaatgtattttcctcctttctccctgatgtcccgcattctctcctgctccctcgctcgcttaataaattattgcatttattttctccccacctcaacttcttctctggctatctttatttcatcccggctcccacttcttcctaaccctcacccaccttacgcagatgtttcggtaccaaatgcgccggttgtgcgcagggcatctctccaagcgatctggttcgcagagcgcgaagcaaagtgtttcacctcaactgcttcacctgcatgatgtgtaacaagcagctctccaccggcgaggagctctacatcatagacgagaacaagttcgtttgtaaagaggattacctgagtaacagcagtgtcgccaaagagaacagcctccactcgggtgaggcgaggattcccaactggctagagggtgggtatgggggaggaaagcccgccaagacccctgctcaccaatcctttcccctctccccagccaccacaggcagtgaccctagtttatctccggattcccaagatccatcgcaggatgatgccaaggactctgaaagtgccaacgtctcagataaggaaggtggtagtaatgagaatgatgatcagaacctaggtgccaaacgtaggggaccccggaccacgatcaaagccaagcaactggagacgttgaaggcagcctttgcagctacacccaagcccacacgccatatccgtgagcaactggcccaggagactggcctcaacatgcgtgttatccaggtcagaaccctggtttgtcactctgtctctcaaagactcgaatggccacttagaggaacctaagctgatcctggtcctgggagaagtcttaaggtctggggaagaaatgattggggctaggaaaagtctagaaaggcctaggagaagtggaacatgagaaaacacccacagagctggtagtggcttaaagggtagggagtggtttgggagcccaggataaagcaggaggaaagcccaaggtccaacactacactgacaacagctagcacccatctttctgtacacatccagtccctcttccaccctttagaagctggctgtgggttccagagtcatcccgttctggtttctgcctaaccagctctctaattcctcaaccccagatttgttagtttggtgccccagttagcaaagcctcagaacagagagttgctcttcccatgcagacagagcaccatgtattgaaggagagattgttcttcagctctccggagatgctgtctggagtaggatgggaaggctaagccatctgcagatagctgggcttttgcattgggaagaggccagatagcgtgtggctcaggcactaggagtctggccttacctatactgtgtgtgtgtgtgatcagagtgcctggaagccaggtgaaggtgtgggtgaatatgcctgggatgctgattgtgcctgtcctggtgttggaaaagggcagtctctgagaggctgtgtgaacctgtgctcatgaatgtggggttgtgtgtctgtcactattggtgagaggctgtgactaagtacgtttggcacttggagattgtgtgtgggtatgaaaagctgattgtgggttttggtgtcactacccttgggaaacaaacagcaggggactttatgagtctccatcactatcatgatatggggtaggggctacaagagaccctgacatgggagcctttgcatgtgacactatcttggagcgtttcaatatctgtgattcctaagataatgcaactgcaaagtcagacaaggcaatagtctgctcagatgcttttcttgggaatcctgcacatccttagcctggtcctactcagagaccaacatatccgcgcgtgtacacacacacacacacacacacacacacacacacacacactaacgccccctcccctccaaccagctgggccccgttttgtacaccggctgcccagtggagtttcccgcggtctgacattgtgcctgtgcgcttcaggtctggttccagaatcgacgctccaagg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Hidden Inside the Artwork
Hugo Hackenbush (Groucho Marx), Αn artist escaping from unlawfulness, “ hides” himself inside
“art”, by the piano. Enters the art scene, a buffer zone, and performs Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Prelude
in C# minor, Op. 3, No. 2, till the apparatus’s operational destruction. Seen as a Groucho
Marx’s statement on “serious art”, genuine art is about decomposing, de-constructing, de-structuring
from what formal art represents.
Destruction comes with surprises, though. The “harp” inside the piano serves as a metaphor of the
state of the artist as a fugitive that never stops. The artist has to continue performing at any cost.
When the work ends, his pursuit continues.

[The artist hidden inside artistic paraphernalia, movie stills from A Day At The Races 1937 - The Marx Brothers ]
Tom and Jerry - The Cat Concerto [1947]

Whenever I try to draw a cow it looks like a horse 12 .
Bertrand Russel.
An artist would ask if Russel is observing a living cow while drawing or he is drawing by memory. The difference
between cognitive and perceptual dynamics has been pointed out by the Stoic philosopher Antiphon 13 : even if you
perceive these things, you will not know at all any one of them, neither those which <he who sees> farthest sees by
sight, nor those which he who perceives farthest perceives by thought (gnômê).
In order to clarify the position of the observer against any physical phenomenon, this distinction is critical. A
hypothesis might be as follows: the noetic pattern is not quite similar as the pattern of the event that initiates it.
Thinking on physical models is a formalized process, a biological pattern with self-similarities. This causes a contradiction
in the process of organizing an absolute model for the world. In the drawing example, Russel actually
means that he is trying to design something beyond his original intent. The process of imitating that aims to
produce an image on paper identical to its perceived pattern in the brain, is a failure. It represents a state that Plato
attributes to the sophists, and refers to the art of deceit: But now, since imitative art has taken him over, it is clear
that our first step must be the division of productive art into two parts; for imitative art is a kind of production of
images. However, we say, not of real things in each case 14 .
The head pattern, depicted as a body of text (see image17a), is merely the biological prerequisite of the head. It
may express the animal’s head at the embryonic stage but there is no relative code that expresses the adult’s head.
So biologically, we would only say that we have the potential concept of the head, expressed in a series of genetic
triplets. It’s up to the environment to express or not the head and its development.
The decoding of genetic material is a form of mimesis; dna has a structure of “mould and cast”, in a world where
repetition rules everything.

image 18: The birth of Athena: Athena emerging from Zeus’ head.
Attic red figure pelike from Vulci, Etruria.
Name vase of the Painter of the Birth of Athena, ca. 470-460 BCE, London, British Museum E 410/
image source, http://www.goddess-athena.org/Museum/Paintings/Birth/Birth_of_Athena_London_E_410_x.htm

Mimesis turns comical
The word mimesis (μῑμησις ) etymologically derives from “memory”; to imitate something presupposes a memorisation of its basic
structures. Initially, it presumes a representation through art, the making of resemblances. We may assume that every representation has
its own concurrencies and failures, so mimesis is in a sence “demoted” to a parody, a farce (μῑμεία= farce) 24 .
The process of disappearing in art or nature requires the pre-assumption of a mimesis, a satiric act of deceiving, trick, including an
ultimate laughingstock(Greek =περίγελως). Coincidentally, Melanitis is a genus of butterflies from the subfamily Satyrinae. Being a
fool may save the life of the ridiculer.
We may define the act of mimesis by means of information’s distribution in nature: Mimics copy cues or signals that are already in
use as part of a stable communication system but offer misleading information to receivers. Mimicry overlaps, both conceptually and
evolutionarily, with camouflage and perceptual exploitation but the overlap is only partial 15 . Ιn my recent works Ι΄m attracted by the
Caligo Eurilochus and Caligo Memnon owl butterflies, genus Caligo. Caligo butterflies mimic the image of an owl (by texture and
an eye pattern) and at the same time a snake, at each wing end. The head of an owl is formed by each butterfly either at the opening
of the wings which corresponds to the bird’s “en face”, or, from a single wing which is also enough to give the owl head impression
as “in profile”. Two butterflies from specific viewing angles also give another, more complete picture of the owl head [image 20]. The
snake-like ending of the wings is also deterrent to predators.
Any occurrence of mockery presides an audience, so mimetic animals know their impact on predators. Mimetic animals imitate
not only morphological but physiological and behavioural traits as well. Τhis mimicry turns to also to be a kind of mockery. With an
unparalleled sense of humour, caterpillars mimicking snakes are the greatest comedians. [image 20]
image 19. Caligo butterflies compared to owls, upside and normal view, 2019
image 20. Caterpillars looking comical while mimicking snake heads
(image by https://allyouneedisbiology.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/animal-mimicry/)
image 21, 22 Feather pattern and color similarity between an owl and Caligo butterfly / image 22 © Y. Melanitis 2019
image 23,24,25. Snake-like formations on Caligo butterflies/ images © Y. Melanitis 2019

image 23, © Donald L. J. Quicke. «Mimicry, crypsis, masquerade and other adaptive resemblances.» Apple Books
According to J. Huxley 16 , Heikeopsis japonica, commonly called the samurai crab, has a bold pattern on
their carapaces that shows an uncanny resemblance to the masks of samurai warriors. Image 23 shows an
example of a crab compared to a Bunraku puppet theatre mask. Huxley proposed that this likeness is not
merely a coincidence but rather it is the result of selection by generations of Japanese fishermen who, upon
encountering crabs whose carapaces more or less resembled human faces, would throw these back into the
water so as to avoid reprisals by evil spirits.
The phenotypic mimicry of characteristics of heterogeneous animals from the Caligo butterflies is presented
in the human perception more than a form of strategy as if containing ridiculous elements of the original,
depicted image of an owl and a snake. What seems impossible to interpret is why this imitation seems in
some way “comical”. Imitation and comicalness 20 , concepts with “blood ties” since the beginning, recall the
platonic references on “ideas”. Every imitation is, in fact, a ‘decline’, so it involves some kind of deception.
It is a paraphrase.
In philosophical practise, Socratic irony is also partly designed as a technique of ridiculing and disappearing
of the “self”. I also have a sense that insects at the same time that “demonstrate” a particular mimetic ability,
take delight in debunking other animals, perhaps aimed at species that are not involved in preying on them,
non-competitive on food search.
If animals are “artists”, it is not certain that the technique of ridiculing another animal degrades their “self”,
because it could be aimed at the reverse process of showing themselves in the high ground (for an insect
it would be a demonstration of some special ability over its to its competitors). According to Longinus 17 ,
comic in some form also participates in the Sublime.
Or, in a sophisticated and unconfirmed analysis, one must admit that these insects, in some cases simultaneously
use irony, a concept implicitly attached to their predator: A larva may present the image of a comic
snake, and this will amuse the bird-predator by degrading it. Provided that each animal has a certain perception
of its own image, it also “entertains” snakes, which face a comical side of themselves. From the preys’
side, comical behaviour serves as a strategy of defence; it may act as a sophisticated form of disappearance.
Humour as defence mechanism is a strategic advantage; considered to be a form of displacement, dissipates
the self into other pictorial forms of communicative information (for humour as defence mechanism and
wit as a distressing, see George Eman Vaillant 18 ). If repetition rules everything, mimesis is the king. 19
For whom possess the power, king or predator, it’s not unusual to see artists as comedians 20 .
Do butterflies have consciousness of the pattern perplexity? Butterflies know about ‘external’ eyes scanning
their scene. Masquerade camouflage, mimicry, is a conscious act, presupposes a deeper understanding of
natural patterns. Who makes patterns, is an artist...
Caligo butterflies breed inside the artists’ lab in Athens, for eleven days, provided them with an alternative
garden space. The specific points they chose to rest, provided the structure for my performance work “If
You Cannot Be An Owl, Masquerade Like A Butterfly”, performed on the Isola di San Michele, Cimitero,
Venice, 2019.
image 3. Caligo butterflies in the artistic lab. Open wings provide
an imitation of owl’s head compared to owls in nature, also in (images
4, 5) Two butterflies from specific viewing angles also give
impression-of an owl head. The snake-like ending of the wings is
also deterrent to predators. (image 6) (images © Y. Melanitis 2019)
Image 8, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Reversible Head with Basket of Fruit, Oil on
wood, , circa 1590, 56 cm x: 42 cm, French and Company collection. Arcimboldo’s
comic hidden heads originate from carnivals where peasants used to hide
their identity/ © image, French and Company collection NY

Image 9. Hercules as infant. A sublime archetype may suffer a ridiculous
transformation. Musei Capitolini, Rome.
Imitation of Roman art above the Greek model also produced a series of comic distortions.

Image10. Portrait of Nano Morgante Agnolo Bronzino, 1552. / The portrait of Dwarf Morgante,
the most famous of the five buffoons who lived at the court of Cosimo I de’ Medici, at the Pitti
Palace, the place where this legendary character – then known as Braccio di Bartolo – spent most
of his life. “Bronzino then made for Duke Cosimo a full-length portrait of the dwarf Morgante,
showed nude, and from two perspectives – namely, with the front on one side of the picture, and
the back on the other, presenting the bizarre and monstrous semblance flaunted by that dwarf;
whereas Bronzino’s painting, in that genre, is usually beautiful and marvellous” (Vasari, Life of
Bronzino). The canvas is painted on both sides; it portrays the dwarf as a “fowler”, or birdcatcher,
as he was not allowed to hunt larger animals, this being an activity reserved for characters
of higher ranks. The character is portrayed respectively from the front and back at two subsequent
moments of the action: at the front we see him before the hunt, holding an owl in a snare to be
used as a bait to capture a jay that is flying in the air. Two scarce swallowtail butterflies cover his
genitals; these were discovered recently when the painting was last restored. From behind, we
see him just about to turn towards the viewer, eager to proudly show off his prey. At the time,
Bronzino was embroiled in the debate on “the competition” (the dispute on the supremacy of
painting over sculpture). By painting a canvas from various perspectives Bronzino put his money
where his mouth was, proving wrong those who favored sculpture in the belief that it offered more
Portrait of Nano Morgante, Agnolo Bronzino , 1552, Uffizi Gallery,
Portrait of Nano Morgante, Agnolo Bronzino , 1552, Uffizi Gallery,

Image11-15/lab images of butterfly breed, © melanitis 2019

If You Cannot Be An Owl,
Masquerade Like A Butterfly. lab images of butterfly breed, Images16-22 © melanitis 2019

The artits lab as an event of random occurences for butterflies. After six days, an erylochus butterfly lies on the chest of my skeleton. © melanitis 2019

If You Cannot Be An Owl, Masquerade Like A Butterfly
Calligo Memnon butterfly, thermoplastic model, 2019
ἀνδρὸς ἀποφθιμένοιο
ῥάκος κακὸν ἐνθάδε κεῖμαι
“ἀνδρὸς ἀποφθιμένοιο ῥάκος κακὸν ἐνθάδε κεῖμαι”
“Aπολιφάδι ανδρός, ράκος κακό, εδώ κείτομαι”
“Man’s remnant, a dreadful rag, I m buried here”
Funeral inscription from a black-figured loutroforos, Athens, National Museum, CC688 , vase number 480]

-three acts of rapid poetry-
If You Cannot Be An Owl,
Masquerade Like A Butterfly
Performance
Isola di San Michele: Cimitero, Venezia
Thursday, 24 October 2019
GPS: 45°26’48.0”N 12°20’48.8”E
GPS: 45°26’48.0”N 12°20’48.8”E

YIANNIS MELANITIS
three acts of rapid poetry
If You Cannot Be An Owl,
Masquerade Like A Butterfly
Performance
Thursday, 24 October 2019
Isola di San Michele: Cimitero, Venezia
GPS: 45°26’48.0”N 12°20’48.8”E
YIANNIS MELANITIS
three acts of rapid poetry
If You Cannot Be An Owl,
Masquerade Like A Butterfly
Performance
Isola di San Michele: Cimitero, Venezia
GPS: 45°26’48.0”N 12°20’48.8”E
Thursday, 24 October 2019

Image stills from the authors’ performance
If You Cannot Be An Owl,Masquerade Like A Butterfly,
Isola di San Michele, Cimitero, Venezia/
images © Y. Melanitis 2019
-three acts of rapid poetry-
If You Cannot Be An Owl,
Masquerade Like A Butterfly
Performance
Isola di San Michele: Cimitero, Venezia
Thursday, 24 October 2019
GPS: 45°26’48.0”N 12°20’48.8”E
San Michele, 30121, 30100 Venezia VE, Italy
GPS: 45°26’48.0”N 12°20’48.8”E

Image stills from the authors’ performance
If You Cannot Be An Owl,Masquerade Like A Butterfly,
Isola di San Michele, Cimitero, Venezia/
images © Y. Melanitis 2019

The artits lab as an event of random occurences for butterflies. After six days, an erylochus butterfly lies on the chest of my skeleton. © melanitis 2019
Frog pretending death / wikimedia/ Alex Popovkin/ image © https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PhyllomedusaBurmeisteri_(6).JPG

The performance If You Cannot Be An Owl, Masquerade Like A Butterfly occurred on the Isola di San Michele:
Cimitero, Venice, around the graves of dead poets. An artist never dies, she/he encrypts the work inside nature, or
even incorporates it in its mechanisms. Here, the mechanismis named Apparent death. Apparent death is common
between animal deception strategies. When caterpillar instruction genes are active (which consist a part of the whole
butterfly DNA), the moth part of the DNA remains temporarily silent. Then, they reorganize all the free-floating
proteins and other nutrients and turn what was once caterpillar into a moth! 21 .
It is also argued that butterflies remember caterpillar experiences (see https://www.newscientist.com/article/
dn13412-butterflies-remember-caterpillar-experiences/).
If these structures imply the existence of consciousness, what kind of consciousness does a butterfly have? The only
credible answer would be, a butterfly consciousness, adapted during the evolution of deception in nature. This is
really extended period; mimicry examples have been discovered around 270 mya 22 .
Every case of “ridiculing” a respectable model in nature requires an audience. Butterflies “know” the existence of
external monitoring.
Now let me say, butterflies are artists. The artists’ lab as a garden, where butterflies find their own camouflage points
and in my case, return to the dead artists’ body.
This scene is similar in the poem Hypnerotomachia 23 : Strife of Love in a Dream ( from Greek ὕπνος hýpnos ‘sleep’,
ἔρως érōs ‘love’, and μάχη máchē ‘fight’) is a book by Francesco Colonna. It was published in Venice 1499. In the
plot, Venus returns every year in May to the tomb of her beloved Adonis... 21
Polia kisses Poliphilo back to life, from Hypnerotomachia: Strife of Love in a Dream/ image source wikipedia. The book begins with Poliphilo,
who is spending a restless dream filled night because his beloved, Polia, has shunned him. Poliphilo is transported into a wild forest,
where he becomes lost, encounters dragons, wolves and maidens and a large variety of architectural forms. He escapes, and falls asleep once
more. Polia rejects Poliphilo, but Cupid appears to her in a vision and compels her to return and kiss Poliphilo, who has fallen into a deathlike
swoon at her feet. Her kiss revives him. Venus blesses their love, and Poliphilo and Polia are united at last. As Poliphilo is about to take Polia
into his arms, Polia vanishes into thin air and Poliphilo wakes up. (source Wikipedia )

References- Books
1. The adult LEDA MELANITIS butterfly was exhibited at MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, 2018
2. Presented at the Interdisciplinary Conference TABOO - TRANSGRESSION - TRANSCENDENCE in Art & Science, 26-28 May 2017, Ionian
University, Corfu Greece, [“http://avarts.ionio.gr/ttt/2017/en/” ]
3.http://www.postinterface.com/nfocus/316-transgenic-art-leda-melanitis-butterfly-mario-savini-s-interview-with-yiannis-melanitis
4. https://www.arshake.com/en/transgenic-art-mario-savinis-interview-to-yiannis-melanitis/
5. (see wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Fugue )
6. Douglas R. Hofstadter, 1999. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. Basic Books, page 201
7. Henry George Liddell and Scott, R. (1983). A Lexicon abridged from Liddell and Scott’s Greek -English lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
8. For this mirroring technique see. Bakker, Egbert J. (2002) “Polyphemos,” Colby Quarterly: Vol. 38: Iss. 2, Article 4.
9. Church, Margaret (1983). Structure and theme : Don Quixote to James Joyce. Columbus: Ohio. page 135. See also: Attridge, Derek. (2004).
James Joyce’s Ulysses : a casebook. Oxford Oxford University Press. 7. Henry George Liddell and Scott, R. (1983). A Lexicon abridged from Liddell
and Scott’s Greek -English lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
10. Pound, E. (1993). The cantos of Ezra Pound. New York: New Directions Pub. Corp., ©, Printing.
11. Shawlot, William, Morinosato Wakamiya, Kin Ming Kwan, Artur Kania, Thomas M. Jessell and Richard R. Behringer. “Lim1 is required in
both primitive streak-derived tissues and visceral endoderm for head formation in the mouse.” Development 126 22 (1999): 4925-32 ./ https://
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10529411
12. Spadoni, C. (1984). Bertrand Russell on Aesthetics. Russell: the Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies, 4(1).
13.Antiphon, Testimonia, Part 2: Doctrine (D)LCL 532: 26-27/ https://www.loebclassics.com/view/antiphon-doctrine/2016/pb_LCL532.27.xml
14. Νῦν δέ γ’ ἐπειδὴ μιμητικὴ περιείληφεν αὐτὸν τέχνη, δῆλον ὡς αὐτὴν τὴν ποιητικὴν δίχα διαιρετέον πρώτην.
265.b.1/ ἡ γάρ που μίμησις ποίησίς τίς ἐστιν, εἰδώλων μέντοι, φαμέν, ἀλλ’ οὐκ αὐτῶν ἑκάστων· ἦ γάρ; Plato Phil., Sophista (0059: 007)
“Platonis opera, vol. 1”, Ed. Burnet, J. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1900, Repr. 1967.] Stephanus page 265, section b, line 115.
15. see : Mimicry, Camouflage and Perceptual Exploitation: the Evolution of Deception in Nature, Biosemiotics (2019) 12:7–24 https://doi.
org/10.1007/s12304-018-9339-6.
16. Huxley. J (1957) New Wine in New Bottles. Chatto & Windus, London.» Απόσπασμα από: Donald L. J. Quicke. «Mimicry, crypsis, masquerade
and other adaptive resemblances.» Apple Books.
17. Longinus, About Height, The Pseudo-Longinus On the Sublime, The Pseudo-Longinus.
18.Vaillant, George. (2011). Involuntary coping mechanisms: A psychodynamic perspective. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience. 13. 366-70 and
Vaillant, G.E. (1995). Adaptation to life. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
19. On mimesis in general see: Lyons, J. and Nichols, S. (1982). Mimesis. Hanover, N. H. ; London: University press of New England.
20. Most characteristic example is Arcimboldo’s collaboration with performers of comedia dell arte at the Habsbourg courts (around 1562).
Kaufmann also states that “his paintings have carnivalesque sources”, deriving from places where peasants hide their identities in the carnival. Thomas
Dacosta Kaufmann, Arcimboldo : visual jokes, natural history, and still-life painting. University Of Chicago Press, 2009, page 67.
21. https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2012/08/01/157718428/are-butterflies-two-different-animals-in-one-the-death-and-resurrection-theory?t=1583518975379
22. Font, E. (2018). Mimicry, Camouflage and Perceptual Exploitation: the Evolution of Deception in Nature. Biosemiotics, 12(1), 7–24. doi:
10.1007/s12304-018-9339-6
23. .For a connection of Hypnerotomachia to painting, see also: Zuffi, Stefano. “Titian: Sacred and Profane Love: Art Mysteries.” Amazon, 24 Ore
Cultura s r l, 2013 .
24. Stavros Vasdekis Greek etymological lexicon, (https://www.e-papadakis.gr/files/Vasdekis-etimologiko.pdf )..

YIANNIS MELANITIS
I f You Can n ot Be An Ow l,
M a s q u e r a d e Li k e A Bu t t e r f ly
HIDING ART, HIDING CODES
AND
THE STRATEGIES OF DISAPPEARING

Artist talk
Abstract
Yiannis Melanitis
Hiding Art, Hiding Codes and the Comic Strategies of Total Disappearing
The artist, hidden inside the work of art
The paper studies mimesis as a biological and artistic phenomenon. Refers to codes hidden inside artworks,
as the technique of hiding human code inside an insect at the The Melanitis leda Project which was about a transgenic
model of the Leda Melanitis butterfly using one of Yiannis Melanitis genes (optix gene 6). An example of
hidden coding is the encryption of the word BACH within the structure of the fugue by the composer himself in his
latest work (Art of the Fugue / Die Kunst Der Fuge). The third theme of the unfinished quadruple fugue begins with
the sequence of “BACH” notes.
Artists’ Name as a Camouflage Tool is apparent in Odyssey also. Outis is a fake, self-invented name given to
Polyphemus for deceiving him by its double meaning. In front of Cyclops, Odysseus names himself Οὖτις, usually
translated as Nobody or as Noman. Odysseus is also the model of a modern man that Ezra Pound sees himself
entangled to while writing the Cantos, after his imprisonment in a cage in post-war Italy. The code of Outis means
more than the meaning of the word. His codified camouflage makes him stand “ out of time ¨; quite the same for a
biological code that dynamically contains information of a body-it serves as encryption in time. An example is head
codification in animals : Genomic sequences may express body parts; a code corresponds to a body encrypted in a
text, as in the Lhx1 genomic sequence 11. If this sequence is removed during embryogenesis in the Lim1 gene, the
head of the organism does not grow.
We further examine how mimesis turns comical. The process of disappearing in art or nature requires
the pre-assumption of a mimesis, a satiric act of deceiving, trick, including an ultimate laughingstock(Greek
=περίγελως). Being a fool may save the life of the ridiculer. We may define the act of mimesis by means of information’s
distribution in nature. Ιn my recent works Ι΄m attracted by the Caligo Eurilochus and Caligo Memnon
owl butterflies, genus Caligo. Caligo butterflies mimic the image of an owl (by texture and an eye pattern) and at the
same time a snake, at each wing end. So, do butterflies have consciousness of the pattern perplexity? Every case of
“ridiculing” a respectable model in nature requires an audience. Butterflies “know” the existence of external monitoring.
If butterflies are artists, the artists’ lab as a garden, where butterflies find their own camouflage points and in
my case, return to the dead artists’ body.
The performance If You Cannot Be An Owl, Masquerade Like A Butterfly occurred on the Isola di San Michele:
Cimitero, Venice, around the graves of dead poets. An artist never dies, she/he encrypts the work inside nature, or
even incorporates it in its mechanisms.

Yiannis Melanitis
Yiannis Melanitis
artist , Greek, b. 1967, Athens, Greece
Assistant Professor , ASFA, Athens
Phd Candidate (NTUA), Athens.
MA DIgital Arts(ASFA) ,
URL: http://www.melanitis.com
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiannis_Melanitis
Academia. edu: http://asfa.academia.edu/YiannisMelanitis
email: imelanitis@gmail.com
38, Kynigon, 14564, N. Kifisia, Athens, Greece
tel: 6973 744737 , +30-210-8071365
Athens School of Fine Arts/ Sculpture, LAB B’ : +30-210- 4801235
Y. Melanitis’s work initiates from a conceptualization on the strategies of contemporary art.
Recent research focuses on the role of information on the arts considering “INFORMATION AS THE NEW CON-
CEPTUALIZATION. (Latest example is his gene micro-injected into the butterfly named Leda Melanitis for the creation
of a trangenic, adult butterfly breed). He derives from philosophy, epistemology and history of art critique to construct
artworks from disimmilar analogue or digital techniques. Political speech and philosophy arising from machines
and computers, render humans to mere ‘watchers’ or envisage new roles to society. Melanitis attempts to prognosticate
that even official, state structures of dialectics that will be produced in the future may derive from self-programming
computers. He presents an interactive dialectical voice through the computer, which participate in a philosophical dialogue
with the public, remodeling the art of rhetoric through calculation. His other series of artworks reference the mechanics
of speech with the concept of the alienation of logic from the human as its inward administrator. Oilpaintings
and sculptures recast on linkages between philosophy, language and politics.
He has published essays on art and philosophy in english and greek. His texts are translated into english, italian, korean
and greek.
His artworks include heterogeneous artistic media of installations, performances, bioartworks, theoretical texts, critique,
poems, code-based web artworks, sculptures, oil paintings and drawings.
Yiannis Melanitis holds degrees in painting, sculpture and digital arts from the Athens School of Fine Arts and is presently
a PhD candidate at the School of Architecture, (NTUA) with a thesis entitled: Biological Dynamics in Art.
He has exhibited in Mexico, Brasil, Belgium, UK, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece. Latest work presentations include
MACRO Museum (Rome); at the National Museum of Brasil; Biblioteque of Brasil; Museu D. Diogo de Sousa, Braga,
Portugal; the Tongeren Museum and Praetorium, Belgium.
As a subject of criticismm, his work is included in international editions as “Art Tomorrow” (Ed.L.Smith), Leonardo
MIT, Lomonosov Moscow University, by Seung-Chol Shin, Assimi Kaniari, Mario Savini among others.
Keywords: Μimesis, Bio art, comical, Codification, Art-strategies
Presentation title: Hiding Art, Hiding Codes and the Comic Strategies of Total Disappearing
We received your submission to TTT2020 (Taboo - Transgression -

Transcendence in Art & Science 2020):
Authors : Ioannis Melanitis
Title : Hiding Art, Hiding Codes and the Comic Strategies of Total Disappearing
Number : 28
The submission was uploaded by Ioannis Melanitis
<imelanitis@gmail.com>. You can access it via the TTT2020
EasyChair Web page
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ttt2020
Thank you for submitting to TTT2020.
Best regards,
EasyChair for TTT2020.