From the Island of the Blessed to Hades: Transforming Austria’s Global Image in Gerhard Roth’s Orkus

Positive myths have long defined Austria’s national image. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the country projected itself as an “Island of the Blessed,” a secluded cultural paradise untouched by global concerns. Gerhard Roth’s works criticize this longstanding Austrian myth by exposing the underlying historical distortions. His Orkus cycle (1995–2011) offers an alternate national image by transforming Austria from the secluded blessed island into the global underworld Orcus. Roth’s contrasting image deconstructs the idealized elements of previous representations and reveals the historical manipulations inherent in all processes of creating national mythologies.