Bread and Circuses (Panem et Circenses)
Mixed Media
Borrowing its title from the ancient Roman expression Panem et circenses (“Bread and Circuses”), this work reflects on the enduring mechanisms through which power secures obedience by exchanging critical thought for comfort, spectacle, and distraction. While the forms of control evolve across history, their underlying logic remains remarkably constant.
At the center of the composition stands the bull—a recurring symbol of sacrifice and collective vulnerability. Here, it represents society itself: powerful in appearance, yet ultimately subjected to forces beyond its control. Guided by authority, manipulated through fear, propaganda, or false promises, the bull becomes an embodiment of ordinary people who bear the consequences of political ambition and ideological conflict.
For Tedo Rekhviashvili, history demonstrates that humanity repeatedly fails to recognize the patterns through which power operates. Historical experience is quickly forgotten, allowing cycles of manipulation, bureaucracy, and violence to re-emerge under new names and new systems. Technologies change, visual languages evolve, and political narratives shift, yet the fundamental contradictions of human existence remain unchanged.
