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Archive photograph of the previous version: marble statue of Plato seated, bearded and draped, outside the Academy of Athens.

Previous version1885

Plato seated on a stone chair in a toga, head bowed, absorbed in a handheld games console that he grips with both hands.

Current version2026

Plato, after Leonidas Drosis, Academy of Athens

Photo: C messier, via Wikimedia Commons, resizedLicence CC BY-SA 4.0Image source

Acc. no. GLI.2026.003 103

Plato

Greek philosopher, author of the allegory of the cave.

At the GLiTCH Museum, Department of Contemporary Antiquities.

Marble, polycarbonate, backlit screen.

Next version Marble. Console supplied without charger.

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Catalogue entry

Record GLI.2026.003
Work 3 of 13

Materials depicted
Marble, polycarbonate, backlit screen.
Provenance
A sofa in a family sitting room. Deposited by relatives, who had given up telling him his tea was ready.
Condition report
Good. Cervical vertebrae under observation.
Related work
Seated Plato, after Leonidas Drosis, Academy of Athens, 1885.

Commentary

In Book VII of the Republic, Plato imagines men chained since childhood at the back of a cave. They see nothing but shadows cast upon the wall, and take them for reality.

The one who is freed and forced up towards the light is dazzled at first. When he goes back down to free the others, they laugh at him; if they could, writes Plato, they would kill him. The museum has not attempted the experiment.

Previous version

Plato, after Leonidas Drosis, Pentelic marble, Academy of Athens. Seated in the same spot since 1885.

Photo: C messier, via Wikimedia Commons, resizedLicence CC BY-SA 4.0Image source

See both versions
References1 reference

Digital composition by Aël, updated with the help of artificial intelligence. Glitch: original.