ASCLEPEION is a ritual performance installation by Ron Athey, rooted in his lifelong testing of the body as a site of healing, sacrifice, ecstasy, and transformation. The work brings ancient practices of purification, prophecy, dream incubation, and votive offering into collision with Athey’s inheritance of ecstatic healing, the HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics, somatic therapy, and strange science.

Developed through field research with long-time collaborator Hermes Pittakos at the Asclepeion of Epidaurus, the Eleusinian Mysteries, and the Oracle at Delphi, ASCLEPEION reimagines the ancient healing temple as a living, contemporary ritual environment.