2007_Aemilia

Being and Not Being
Paper extending from the wall onto
the floor, black pigment, strings, black light.
Length: approximately 220 cm on the wall
and 150 cm on the floor. Width: approximately 170 cm.

With simple means (paper extending from the wall onto the floor and rubbed dry pigment) I have an installation piece; an "open" system, as contrasted to a "closed" system, which has to be experienced in space since it has to be witnessed either by focusing on the wall or on the floor.
This two-faceted piece, extends fictitious-painterly space in the third dimension while at the same time has a real sculptural objecthood.
This inbuild double nature enables the spectator, when focusing on the floor, and registering the wall with peripheral vision, to see a luminous 'presence'; whereas when focusing on the wall, and registering the floor under perspective distortion, to see an 'absence', a 'corridor'.
Black light makes paper and string glow giving therefore the impression of being light.
Photography does not reproduce the works accurately since a corporal engagement is necessary to witness the works through and in relation to the body.

Being and Not Being

Being and Not Being
performance piece

Tauton
Wooden box, streched canvas,
dry black pigment, neon light at
the back of the construction.
220 X 70 X 20 cm

As the title TAUTON (tautology) suggests, the work investigates the issue of identity as relation of the 'Ego' to the 'Other' the alien. It therefore refers to the unavoidable (?) reading / re-cognition through projection. This piece that stands hermetically in real space while also at the same time creating the fictitious space of an opening, a door, is, the way I see it, an abstract "mirror". An abstract "mirror" that investigates the object / subject confrontation and the consequent awareness of the reciprocal relationship between these two sides of the equation. In this mirror the spectator projects his / her identity, body, consciousness, in the attempt to understand, to relate to, in some order or other, to the abstract absolute entities and sizes of notions as are the geometrical notions, of i.e. the square.

Beyond this attempt at understanding; where projection (and alas confrontation) are logical impasses, there is only one other a-logical, non - noetic method: the Ego seizes to exist as such, awareness exceeds the duality of subject / object and expands beyond the conventional limits of the organism in an experience of corporal and undifferentiated uniqueness/oneness which cannot be grasped nor understood but IS. (Hence the title of Being - not Being series).

Tauton

Chess Continuum - Dancer
burnt engine oil, laundry detergent, wooden flooring,
chair, table, staircase, metronome, wax figurine.

This installation at Duke University made use of the particular architectural characteristics of the Louise Jones Brown Gallery exhibition space which is located at the student lounge in campus. This space consists of 2 identical squarish areas /rooms with rounded corners while walls do not reach the ceiling. In the centre stands a wooden construction, which reaches the ceiling and which served as a tool cabinet.
I removed the doors of the wooden cabinet, adjoining the two rooms, while at the same time I built a wooden ramp running through the cabinet and at the periphery of the walls of the 2 rooms creating in this way 2 distinct square areas/pools at the centre of each room.
One pool, the "white" one,contained laundry detergent upon which stood an old table with a metronome and a flower. On the highly reflective surface of the table one could see, from a certain angle, the image of a chair; which in its reality was installed upturned on the ceiling outside the gallery space. This was made possible due to the fact that the walls did/do not reach the ceiling.
The other pool, the "black" one, was a pool indeed since it contained black engine oil which being higly reflective captured the reflection of the ladder structure which was mounted on the ceiling. Much in the same manner as the "Morpheus" piece, this reflection creates an illusion of a lower room, which in this case, due to the skylight ceiling windows, clouds got reflected creating therefore the illusion of being aboard a spaceship moving in space.
Within the wooden cabinet, that served now as an extra exhibition area, stood upon the ideogram of the "ChessContinuum" the wax figurine of the "dancer"implying the notion of balance

Well or The fruit of present, sperm of past, seed of future
250 kgr. Betonite rock, metal cord, ball bearings, red spring board
Approximately 10 m. height

1995, instalation in situ, Sachinis- Rhouniou house, Politia, Athens

At the corner of the house, which was a glass enclosed trapezoid area originally intended for planting, I hung a 250 Kgr. rock -from the island of Kimolos- by a thin metal-chord of 6 mm. through a ball bearing. This setting allowed the rock to rotate around its axis provided that a willing spectator stepped upon the red spring board and risked touching it.
When the house was sold the owners of the work hung it by an old big olive tree.

Query sign / No means sign
Thread, glue, pigment, metronome.

Small particles of glue intermixed with black pigment are attached to threads which extend from floor to ceiling within a room with rounded corners so as not to reveal easily its size and measurements.
Since these very small scattered particles do not consist enough of a clue to estimate distance, they create a peculiar feeling of space that runs parallel to a sensation of instant and yet continuous time.

Chess Game or
Playing in the fields of Time there is no winning ever
64m2 (8X8m), 250cm height

Exhibition 1991, 21st São Paulo Bienal, representing Greece,
curated by Maria Maragu

The theme of the Opposites as well as the relation of the Ego to the Other is clearly treated within the context of the chessgame in the piece of '91.
This is an interactive installation since the spectators - players who decide to play (walk upon the piece), have to realize the need to acknowledge, even respect, one another and be aware that one's move is depended upon the move of the other so as not to fall into the black squares of the engine oil.
The metronome suggests not only the notion of Time passing, but the rhythm of the spectators as well, who can rewind it at a different pace.
Questions on limits and reciprocity are being further addressed by the placement and affect of the three mirrors:
positioned upon the symmetry axes, the real tends to coincide with the reflected,
furthermore at the transparent mirror the Ego comes 'face to face' with the Other, when through its own reflected image One can see (due to the transparency) the image of the Other.
It is a piece that sets aside the notion of winning; in order to promote the complementary nature and the interdependence of the Opposites.
Balance is a personal as well as a collective responsibility for sustainable development in time continuum.

aspect of black mirror and entrance door

Chess Continuum - The Scattering Matrix
black light, cotton string, metronome, laundry detergent

Exhibition " ©EUROPE EXISTS" 2003, exhibition on the idea of Europe, where each of the 15 countries of the EU is represented by 2 artists. Representing Greece. Curated by Harald Szeemann and Rosa Martinez.
"Pancevo International Biennal" Serbia, 2004. Curated by Svetlana Mladenov and Igor Antic

It is a labyrinthic net, which alludes to both the telecommunicational net that surrounds our planet but also to the subatomic reality of particles.
This chaotic net is created by one line (cotton string) that weaves through space; which at first might seem impenetratable and yet it can be penetrated by simply walking through it.
This is an act that requires balance and respect with the piece and with one another since you meet other spectators in your navigation through it.
Afterall the mere fact of walking, balancing ourselves takes us at least 6 months of our early lives, as children to learn and accomplish! 6 months where evolution happens within our brains and in front of our very eyes!
It is indeed a big step and a grand achievement to balance the two hemispheres of our brains in order to trust ourselves walking, gliding in time and space.
This act of grace and balance that we take for granted needed aeons to evolve. I do only hope that we get to understand faster how desperately in need we are to balance ourselves among ourselves and in our planet.