A great initiative that took place on the 13th of May in Athens.
Underneath one of the major ancient theatres and cultural places of Greece, 120 musicians, actors, videographers and sound designers came together to express their solidarity to the artists who died for their art.
Another sign of the power and solidarity art can bring. Especially now.
#SupportArtWorkers #GreeceToTurkey #GrupYorum
A great video with advices to artists by artists.
Quoting
Olafur Eliasson : ” Be sensitive to where you are in what times and what part of the world and how that constitutes your artistic practice.”
“Making art is making the world.”
Marina Abramovic : Be ready to fail… Risk
Wim Wenders: “Do what nobody else can do except for you!”
Watching an old documentary “Exit through the gift shop” which follows the path of Thierry Guetta and the birth of Mr. Brainwash gave me a push to dive again in the amazing world of street art.
Looking at Space Invader’s tiny mosaic space figures and then at Shepard Fairey’s famous OBEY and ending up watching a video from a day in Banksy’s biggest exhibition “Dismaland” made me realise the immense value of street art in the art world, and the world in general. People with creativity and sometimes outrageous courage that decide to get out, express their voice on the walls and show that art holds a certain amount of freedom that it is won through rebellion, opposition and innovation.
Now… what is Brandalism?
Brandalism is a way of using street art to directly sabotage the power of advertising big brands and companies. If you ask me, it is an artistic action against Capitalism.
Here’s the definitely worth reading manifesto :
“This fight, waged in all places,
on all networks and circuits of communication
is the responsibility of all who believe another world is possible.
This is our battle-cry, our semiotic war,
our rage against consumer mis-philosophy,
and the machines of predatory corporatism,
that block out the sun
burn our atmosphere
We steal this space (from capitalism)
and we give it back to you for free
for the communication of possible futures
So imagine, if you will, another world
Emptied of mad empires,
Manufactured fears,
Paranoid dreams
and marauded lands.
Now imagine the sounds of those memories
crushing in your hands.
Instead of the facile dreams of consumer products and
the shadow festival
of fake-estate lifestyle choice,
pacifying with wealth those who remember,
smart-drugging the next generation of revolutionary minds.
We are people, not targets.
It might be time to listen to the rage inside,
the rage against more of the same
the rage because another world must be possible,
a rage against the atrophy of hope.
A rage against the changing climate, bullshit jobs,
division, fear.
So we subvertise here for hope,
hope that is never too late to start.
Take this space.
Silent rebels, and loud dreamers,
take this space,
young pacifiers and old lovers.
Don’t hide in the shadows, steal their space,
their damaging words and aesthetics.
We take this space back to speak truth to power,
to oppression, to injustice,
against those that would have us give our lives,
our brightest years,
of all that we are and could be
to the serpent of consumption
perpetuating a world we don’t believe in
distracting us from each other in favour of ourselves,
destroying our ability to think and fantasise wildly.
We, who are you, have come to realise that
to dream is the beginning,
all that remains is action,
to reclaim the space to express.”
Now, if you ask me how effective is brandalism I cannot answer for sure but for me the important thing is that it exists and it shakes and shapes the images we see and are being brainwashed from. It is a way to say no to what someone else decide’s to put in front of our eyes.
Yesterday I came across the following post by Austin Kleon.
Starting his article by the phrase “Declare it art” he continues :
“I walked past this handicapped spot yesterday and thought of the “Make it art” assignment from Rob Walker’s The Art of Noticing:
Think then of some regular walk or drive or ride you experience often, or even that you’re experiencing for the first time. Imagine yourself a curator. Decide what, among the things you notice, you might declare public works of art.
Perhaps a disheveled pylon marking a street flaw that ought to have been fixed by now. Maybe a post that seems to be a lingering remnant of an otherwise departed fence. Possibly even a child with a piercing stare.
Grant yourself the superpower of making “art” wherever you go, and see how that changes what you perceive.
Art is everywhere, if you say so. “
It is true though that almost everything that surround us can be declared as art, the problem is we usually don’t have the time to appreciate it and admire it as we do with a piece of art.
When we visit a gallery or we go to the theatre we decide to slow down, we give time to ourselves to open our minds and our hearts and receive what the art piece has to offer. We want to understand, to feel and be amazed by what we see.
Imagine if we could confront the world as if we are in a gallery or an art museum or a theatre hall. We look from a different perspective. We feel, we see the beauty on things otherwise unimportant. Everything suddenly takes a different form , more valuable, more unique. Like a piece of art.
Let’s think that art is everywhere. Could be worth the challenge…
photograph by Chris Cabral
On PEAGE GAMES. Training Course in Slunakov, Czech Republic. 26 August – 3rd September.
It’s time I guess to write about a great experience I had about a month ago.
It all started on the 26th of August in Slunakov, an amazing ecological home near Horka nad Moravou village . A building based in the middle of a green preserved area functioning with respect towards the environment and the people. A peaceful place to be.
There, I met up for the first time with the rest of the participants, people from all over the world. Romania, Argentina, UK, Ireland, Italy, Czech Republic, Greece, Germany, Madeira Island, Hungary, Turkey, Slovenia, Spain America and Russia! A big wave of different names and cultural backgrounds hit me but soon it all became very familiar and I felt like I was living in a unique multicultural family , and every single member of it had so much to teach me.
Those 8 days were a big, long journey filled with new explorations, challenges, debates and games.
We had practical and theoretical sessions on how to structure and design a game. We also had to deal with stressful tasks such as “building the tallest #LEGO tower”, which sometimes costs more than you imagine! We learned about teamwork and team organisation, the mechanics of creating a game and shaping a narrative. And to go deeper we tested our values and discussed over the values promoted by the messages that we get bombarded on a daily basis by politicians, adverts, the TV, the press and other social groups.
Now you ‘ll probably start thinking why the hell this course was called “PEACE GAMES”… well I was thinking the same; until we watched the movie …”War Games”.
Ok! No! (This movie is integral to the course for various reasons I am not going to explain. If you want to know more just watch the movie and/or go attend a “Peace Games Training Course” )
The real way to find out the mystery of this course was to link the idea of games to our society. And that again happened through more discussions and a deeper understanding of games. Ranging from racist and sexist, violent online video games[1] to “finding your real love” board games[2]. From old classic games such as Dungeons and Dragons [3] to theatre improvisation games and card games where cheating[4]is finally allowed (!). From running free and wild into the field having the goal to “HAVE FUN” to playing obsessively “Overcooked”[5] until 3am. From games that killing crabs[6] can actually destroy your life to games that the lack of communication can blow everyone up[7]. (Definitely tried my best! ).
But what was puzzling me was the fact that even though most of the times games create imaginary words with amazing graphics and endless possibilities they are indeed the mirror of our “REAL” world (although as trainer Michele said there is not such thing as real and unreal world. It all belongs to this world). Only, this mirror shows what is actually missing from peoples’ lives. Imagination, communication, trust, bravery, achievement, goals, awards, risk, rebellion, companion, fun and freedom.
Let’s think how many of these we can identify in our everyday life?
As the week went by I started understanding that the wide range of games exist to attract different groups of people. But isn’t this a creation of the adult world too. A separation of worlds within a world? The development of more and more boxes labelled in different ways. How possible though it is to be able to jump from one box to another? Like we did that week, in that training course, following our own preferences and priorities but also accepting and trying and playing.
Everyone is different and that’s why there are so many different games. But what if the ideal Peace Game is playing ALL of the games? Acquiring skills and knowledge from all of them without judging or creating personal barriers. Entering different dark caves and crossing thresholds again and again. Meeting trolls that become your best friends and tricksters that by tricking you they help you find the right path. Enjoying that moment of playing rather than wishing is not going to end. Celebrating winning but also celebrating losing! Embodying your character and knowing it is still you , the real you.
Only one week was enough to appreciate the real value of “Peace” and “War” games. The essence of having a goal and either alone or with a team trying to achieve it!
And what if that goal was to change the world? How would you play this game?
Well we tried…by creating even more games!
Games that language can make you a king [1], or where the sea animals can probably hear the desperate attempt of you to save them[2]. Games where you have the power to change the earth’s fate[3] or others were you have to YOLOmoc[4] or end up mass- debating[5] .
It may all sound we were just going crazy… but I can reassure you it was one of the most enriching experiences I ever had. Inspiring, challenging and FUN!
Because at the end of the day, playing is part of our nature and the reason we grow old is because we decide at some point of our lives that playing is not as important any more. So I challenge you… go and play any game that makes the hidden inner child laugh again. Someone , some time said … life is a game. Just then we decide the rules. And these rules make the society we live in and the REAL world as it is. So keep playing and choose your rules because otherwise, someone else will…. But don’t forget in this game.. you only have one life.
Over and out,
Eleni
*References of games mentioned above:
*Games created during the training course:
A big thank you to Erasmus + and the training team of War Games : Carmine Rodi Falanga Mafalda Morganti and Michele Di Paola
Το έργο Home από την ομάδα Almalibre.co της Αναστασίας Μπρουζιώτη και το έργο 2084 από την ομάδα A(r)CT της Ελένης Παπαϊωάννου και του Άλεξ Γκοτς φιλοξενεί από τις 7 έως τις 30 Οκτωβρίου ο Κινητήρας.
Τα δυο έργα διακρίθηκαν στο In Progress Feedback Festival (IPFF) 2017.
Εμείς μιλήσαμε με τις δύο καλλιτέχνιδες για τα έργα τους, που μάλιστα ισοψήφισαν στην πρώτη θέση με βάση το feedback του κοινού, και παρουσιάζονται στον Κινητήρα στην τελική τους μορφή σ’ ένα συναρπαστικό Double Bill.
Λίγα λόγια για την παράσταση που θα δούμε στον Κινητήρα…
Ελένη Παπαϊωάννου: Το “2084” δημιουργήθηκε μέσα από μια συνεργασία μεταξύ των performers Ελένη Παπαϊωάννου (ιδρύτρια του A(r)CT) και Άλεξ Γκοτς, καθώς και του μουσικού Πάνου Χουντουλίδη και παρουσιάστηκε για πρώτη φορά στο In Progress Festival 2017, όπου κατάφερε να κερδίσει την πρώτη θέση μαζί με την ομάδα Almalibre.co. Το έργο μας αντλεί στοιχεία από το βιβλίο “1984” του Τζορτζ Όργουελ. Η συνεχής προσπάθεια μιας “ανώτερης” δύναμης να καταργήσει κάθε ίχνος διαπροσωπικής σχέσης για να εξασφαλίσει την παντοτινή αγάπη και πίστη προς αυτήν. Δύο άνθρωποι που πέρα από την αγάπη που νιώθουν ο ένας για τον άλλον αγαπούν την ελευθερία. Την ‘μη εικονική’ ελευθερία που ποτέ δεν μπόρεσαν να γευτούν.
Αναστασία Μπρουζιώτη: Tο “Home” είναι μία παράσταση που δημιουργήθηκε με αφορμή τους πίνακες του Egon Schiele και του Edward Hopper. Οι συλλογές που αποτελέσαν την αφετηρία του κομματιού είναι “The Embrace” (The Loving, Ε.Schiele), Cοuple Paintings (1939-1959, E.Hopper) και Social Realism (1928-1947, E.Hopper).
Τι σας ενέπνευσε; Πού στηριχθήκατε;
Αναστασία Μπρουζιώτη: Ο Hopper έχει έναν ρεαλισμό και είναι φοβερά κινηματογραφικός. Η απλότητα, η αρμονία και η ισορροπία που έχουν οι πίνακες του δίνουν πολύ καθαρά την απομόνωση και την μοναξιά που βιώνουν οι χαρακτήρες του, σε αντίθεση με τη έντονη σωματικότητα και την άγρια ομορφιά που έχουν οι χαρακτήρες του Schiele. Η διαφορετική αποτύπωση του κόσμου από τους δύο ζωγράφους αποτέλεσε το ερέθισμα για την δημιουργία του έργου σε κινητικό, χορογραφικό και σκηνοθετικό επίπεδο.
Ελένη Παπαϊωάννου: Το 2084 βασίζεται στην ιδέα πως ο έρωτας μπορεί να αποτελέσει πράξη επαναστατική, πράξη αντιστασιακή και πολλές φορές ριψοκίνδυνη. Χρησιμοποιώντας ως κύρια πηγή έμπνευσης το βιβλίο ‘1984’ του Τζορτζ Όργουελ, το οποίο τύχαινε να διαβάζω εκείνο τον καιρό, θέλησα να αποτυπώσω στη σκηνή την κρυφή σχέση του Γουίνστον με την Tζούλια και την ανάγκη τους να νιώσουν ό,τι το σύστημα απαγόρευε ρητά. Η επίμονη μάχη τους, μέσα από την ‘παράνομη’ αγάπη τους, να νιώσουν ελεύθεροι και να πάνε κόντρα σε όσα η κοινωνία μέσα στην οποία ζουν ορίζει, αποτέλεσε κύριο συστατικό για την ανάπτυξη του έργου. Η θέλησή τους να ελευθερώσουν την φυλακισμένη τους ψυχή, το σώμα και το μυαλό τους αλλά η εν τέλει υποδούλωση και φυλάκιση των ίδιων σε όσα αποφάσισαν να αποστατήσουν λόγω του υπερβολικού τους ζήλου και της έντασης των καταπιεσμένων τους συναισθημάτων και σαρκικών επιθυμιών, προσέφερε σημαντικά δομικά στοιχεία για το 2084. Ο αγώνας αυτών των δύο ανθρώπων που αγαπιούνται ή ίσως έχουν ανάγκη να νιώσουν πως αγαπούν, απέναντι σε μία κοινωνία αποστειρωμένη από κάθε είδους συναίσθημα συντέλεσε στο να αναπτύξω το κομμάτι στα πλαίσια του θέματος “Έρωτας και Επανάσταση”, όπως είχε οριστεί από τον Κινητήρα για το InProgress Feedback Festival 2017. Έχοντας λοιπόν ως σημείο εκκίνησης τις συμπεριφορές των χαρακτήρων του βιβλίου, το περιβάλλον που κινούνται, τις αγωνίες τους, το πάθος, τον ενθουσιασμό τους αλλά και εν τέλει την απελπισία, την απογοήτευση, τον πόνο και την προδοσία που νιώθουν, χτίσαμε αυτό το έργο. Με μία ερώτηση να μας ακολουθεί: ‘Είναι μία επανάσταση βασισμένη στον έρωτα αρκετή να υπερνικήσει ένα υπερφίαλο σύστημα και μία κοινωνία τυφλή;’
Πώς επικοινωνεί με το σήμερα;
Ελένη Παπαϊωάννου: Η ανάγκη μας να είμαστε ελεύθεροι. Να μπορούμε να εκφράσουμε αυτά που νιώθουμε και σκεφτόμαστε, Να ζήσουμε, να ονειρευτούμε, να ερωτευτούμε… Σήμερα, αύριο, χθες. Μέσα σε ένα κόσμο κοινωνικών, πολιτικών, περιβαλλοντικών, ηθικών και ανθρωπιστικών καταστροφών. Μέσα σε ένα κόσμο προσφυγιάς και μετανάστευσης, το 2084 απεικονίζει τον φόβο πως κάποια μέρα θα χάσουμε τη ικανότητα να νιώθουμε, να σκεφτόμαστε και να αγωνιζόμαστε για τον ίδιο μας τον εαυτό, την αξιοπρέπεια μας και τους γύρω μας, για όσα μπορέσαμε κάποτε να ονειρευτούμε.
Αναστασία Μπρουζιώτη: Τα θέματα που ουσιαστικά πραγματεύεται το έργο έχουν να κάνουν με την ελευθερία, την μοναξιά και την καταπίεση. Είναι καθαρά ανθρώπινα θέματα και αυτό τα κάνει αυτόματα και επίκαιρα.
Δικό σας στοίχημα;
Ελένη Παπαϊωάννου: Το προσωπικό μας στοίχημα είναι να μπορέσουμε να επικοινωνήσουμε στους θεατές αυτήν την επιτακτική ανάγκη για συλλογικότητα. Να κάνουμε όσους παρακολουθήσουν το 2084 να νιώσουν ΚΑΤΙ έντονο(και ίσως αποπνικτικό). Να δημιουργήσουμε συναισθήματα, να μπορέσουμε να προβληματίσουμε ως προς το τι συμβαίνει γύρω μας και πως εμείς σαν άνθρωποι τα αντιμετωπίζουμε. Να υπογραμμίσουμε τη σημασία συναισθημάτων όπως η αγάπη, ο έρωτας, η συμπόνοια και η εν συναίσθηση. Αλλά κυρίως να αφήσουμε μία σπίθα που ίσως κάποια στιγμή γίνει φωτιά.
Αναστασία Μπρουζιώτη: Η δημιουργία ενός έργου που κινητική του γλώσσα θα είναι καθαρά εμπνευσμένη από τους χαρακτήρες των πινάκων που με ενέπνευσαν. Επέλεξα να ξεκινήσω από δύο διαφορετικές ατμόσφαιρες και να τις μετουσιώσω σε άλλους κόσμους χρησιμοποιώντας ως εργαλείο το σώμα και την κίνηση αποσκοπώντας στο να μπορέσει ο θεατής οποιαδήποτε στιγμή να « χαθεί» μέσα σε έναν ζωγραφικό πίνακα.
Ποιους καλλιτέχνες του χορού θαυμάζετε ιδιαίτερα και γιατί;
Αναστασία Μπρουζιώτη: Δεν θαυμάζω κάποιους συγκεκριμένους καλλιτέχνες χορού αποκλειστικά. Αυτό που θαυμάζω στον καθένα ξεχωριστά είναι η πίστη και η υπομονή που κάνει κάθε καλλιτέχνης μέχρι να βρει τον δικό του τρόπο να επικοινωνήσει με τον κόσμο. Αυτό είναι κάτι που με μαγεύει σε όλους τους δημιουργούς από την M.Graham, τον M.Cunnigham, την Τrisha Brawn, την Pina Bausch μέχρι τον Hofesh, Arkam Khan, Sharon Fridmanκ.α.
Ελένη Παπαϊωάννου: Είναι πάντα δύσκολο να πρέπει να ξεχωρίσεις κάποιους ανθρώπους μέσα σε ένα χώρο που συντελείται από πολλούς ξεχωριστούς και αξιόλογους καλλιτέχνες του παρόντος και του παρελθόντος. Θα έλεγα πως με συναρπάσει ιδιαίτερα η δουλειά του Akram Khan. Ο συνδυασμός διαφόρων μορφών τέχνης και η ενσωμάτωση του παραδοσιακού ινδικού χορού Kathak στις χορογραφίες του έχει ως αποτέλεσμα ένα ιδιαίτερο και συναρπαστικό τρόπο αφήγησης. Επίσης η δουλειά της αείμνηστης Pina’s Bausch, ιδρύτρια του χοροθεάτρου, που δημιούργησε έργα με χιούμορ, έντονες εικόνες και χρώματα, βγαλμένα από τους ίδιους τους ανθρώπους, μη προσποιητά, εξιστορώντας και απεικονίζοντας τη ίδια τη κοινωνία στη σκηνή, με έχει επηρεάσει πολυεπίπεδα. Τέλος, ο άνθρωπος που θαυμάζω πολύ είναι η Βάσω Κουκάκη, η πρώτη μου δασκάλα χορού, που με την ανεξάντλητη ενέργειά της καταφέρνει να μου υπενθυμίζει πως ο χορός πηγάζει από κάπου μέσα βαθιά. Να νιώθεις είναι να χορεύεις.
Η γλώσσα του χορού πόσο εύκολα γίνεται κατανοητή από το ευρύ κοινό;
Ελένη Παπαϊωάννου: ‘Ο χορός είναι σαν την ποίηση’ έλεγε ο καθηγητής μου Rick Nodine. Είναι μία μορφή τέχνης αφηρημένη, πιο αυθαίρετη. Αυτή όμως η ιδιότητα καθιστά το χορό πιο δυσνόητο και όχι τόσο προσβάσιμο στο ευρύ κοινό. Χορός όμως είναι κίνηση, κίνηση που προέρχεται από το σώμα μας. Ο καθένας κινείται. Ο καθένας από μας αντιλαμβάνεται την κίνηση και νιώθει το ρυθμό. Είναι κάτι πηγαίο, ανθρώπινο. Είναι η πρώτη γλώσσα που μαθαίνουμε, μία γλώσσα παγκόσμια. Έτσι λοιπόν θα έπρεπε να χρησιμοποιείται για να μπορεί να αγγίξει και να μεταφέρει μηνύματα. Να λειτουργεί σα δίαυλος ιδεών και συναισθημάτων. Έτσι μόνο ο χορός κατά την άποψή μου μπορεί να γίνει κατανοητός από το ευρύ κοινό, σαν ένας ειλικρινής, άμεσος διάλογος.
Αναστασία Μπρουζιώτη: Ο χορός είναι μία αφαιρετική τέχνη που συχνά δεν χρειάζεται να αποκωδικοποιηθεί εντελώς. Αυτή άλλωστε είναι και η μαγεία του. Το αν και κατά πόσο θα φτάσει στο κοινό εξαρτάται από την κινητική γλώσσα και τον τρόπο που ο χορογράφος θα επιλέξει να χρησιμοποιήσει, καθώς επίσης από το ποιος είναι ο στόχος του έργου. Αν θέλει να προβληματίσει, αν θέλει να δώσει κάποιο συγκεκριμένο μήνυμα ή αν θέλει αφήσει τον θεατή να ταξιδέψει.
Μελλοντικά σχέδια
Αναστασία Μπρουζιώτη: Τον Νοέμβριο θα ταξιδέψουμε στο Echo Dance Festival στην Ιρλανδία με το έργο “Soul mechanisms/ Journey in the sky” και μετά τα Χριστούγεννα θα ξεκινήσουμε την παραγωγή του νέου μας έργου.
Ελένη Παπαϊωάννου: Μετά το τέλος των παραστάσεων του του ‘2084’ στον Κινητήρα τον Οκτώβρη η ομάδα μας, Α(r)CT, θα συνεχίσει την ερευνά της πάνω στη σχέση του χορού και των δημόσιων χώρων αποσκοπώντας στην υλοποίηση της ιδέας μας πως ο Χορός ανήκει σε κάθε Χώρο και σε κάθε άνθρωπο. Επίσης η ομάδα μας θα συνεργαστεί με το Artfygio διοργανώνοντας εκπαιδευτικά και άλλου είδους προγράμματα στα πλαίσια της συνεχούς μας προσπάθειας να γίνει η τέχνη πιο προσβάσιμη και διαδραστική. Και επειδή μας αρέσει να είμαστε πολυάσχολοι σκοπεύουμε να ξεκινήσουμε ένα καινούργιο κομμάτι με τον Alex Gotch και άλλους performers/χορευτές.
Συνέντευξη Ελένης Παπαϊωάννου στα πλάισια του 5ου Handmade and Recycled Theatre Festival. στo gefira.gr
Πότε και πώς ξεκίνησε η καλλιτεχνική σας δράση;
Η ομάδα A(r)CT γεννήθηκε το 2014 με την ιδέα ότι ο χορός όπως και όλες οι τέχνες πρέπει να λειτουργούν ως ένα μέσο κοινωνικής -και όχι μόνο- αλλαγής.
Από τότε, δημιουργούμε έργα βασισμένα στο χορό και το σωματικό θέατρο, installations και site-specific που παρουσιάζονται σε κλειστά θέατρα αλλά και ανοιχτούς, δημόσιους και ασυνήθιστους χώρους. Μέχρι τώρα, η ομάδα Α(r)CT έχει συμμετάσχει σε διάφορα φεστιβάλ σε Αγγλία και Ελλάδα.
Η ομάδα A(r)CT έχει στόχο να δημιουργεί προσιτά και διαδραστικά έργα συνδυάζοντας χορό, κείμενο, μουσική όπως και άλλες εικαστικές τέχνες. Μέσα από τη δουλειά μας επιθυμούμε να μεταφέρουμε μηνύματα άμεσα συνδεδεμένα με την καθημερινότητά μας, την κοινωνική και ανθρωπιστική μας ύπαρξη καθώς και τον σύγχρονο κόσμο. Μας ενδιαφέρει οι θεατές να κατανοούν αυτό που παρακολουθούν, να νιώθουν ενεργοί και όχι να στέκονται απαθείς σε ό,τι συμβαίνει μπροστά τους.
Συνεργασίες που έχετε κάνει ή που θα θέλατε να κάνετε;
Μέσα από τις δράσεις τις ομάδας μας έχουμε συνεργαστεί με αξιόλογους καλλιτέχνες, designers, χορευτές και μουσικούς, όπως οι Andrew Huang, Clara Giaminardi, Georgio Oniani, Iro Vasalou, Daniel Persson και πολλούς άλλους. Επίσης μία από τις πιο πρόσφατες δουλειές μας, που θα παρουσιαστεί στον Κινητήρα τον Οκτώβρη, είναι αποτέλεσμα συνεργασίας με τους Αλεξ Γκοτς και Πάνο Χουντουλίδη. Σε προσωπικό επίπεδο είχα την ευκαιρία να δουλέψω με καταξιωμένους χορογράφους και καλλιτέχνες όπως Luca Silvestrini, Akram Khan, Alexis Blake, Seke Chimutengwende και Livia Rita, κάτι που προσθέτει ενθουσιασμό και έμπνευση για να συνεχίζω.
Κρίση και τέχνη- Πόσο επηρεάζει η μια την άλλη;
Σε καιρούς κρίσης οικονομικής, πολιτικής, κοινωνικής, περιβαλλοντικής και ανθρωπιστικής η τέχνη είναι ένα διέξοδο. Είναι μία μεγέθυνση των πραγμάτων, που άλλοτε προσφέρει μια στιγμή απόδρασης και άλλοτε προτροπή για δράση.
Πάντα πίστευα στην δύναμη της τέχνης, της κάθε τέχνης, αλλά κυρίως αυτής που μπορεί να λειτουργήσει ως δίαυλος ιδεών και μηνυμάτων. Αυτής της τέχνης που δεν θυσιάζεται στο βωμό των αγορών, της φήμης και των χρημάτων. Αυτής της τέχνης που μπορεί να προβληματίσει, να συγκινήσει, να πονέσει, να τρομάξει και να αλλάξει έστω και ένα κομμάτι της κοινωνίας. Η κρίση δυστυχώς ή ευτυχώς μας κάνει να αντιδρούμε (ή τουλάχιστον έτσι θα έπρεπε) και μέσα από αυτή την αντίδραση γεννιέται περισσότερη τέχνη. Η ανάγκη να εκφραστούμε, να ακουστούμε και να πολεμήσουμε ενάντια σε κάτι υπέρτατο χωρίς όπλα αλλά με μπογιές, τραγούδια και χορό.
Μελλοντικά σχέδια που σας απασχολούν;
Ο κύριος στόχος μας είναι να συνεχίσουμε το έργο μας, εξερευνώντας καινούργια μονοπάτια, γνωρίζοντας νέους καλλιτέχνες και δημιουργώντας συνεργασίες που μπορούν να προσφέρουν κάτι καινοτόμο και διαφορετικό στο χώρο των τεχνών, θέτοντας ταυτόχρονα καλλιτεχνικές και άλλες προκλήσεις.
Γιατί αποφασίσατε να συμμετέχετε στο 5o Handmade and Recycled Theater Festival;
Διαβάζοντας για το 5o Handmade and Recycled Theater Festival κατάλαβα πως είναι ένα φεστιβάλ που ταιριάζει απόλυτα στην ιδεολογία της ομάδας μας και τον τρόπο που θέλουμε να προωθήσουμε την τέχνη. Για μας η τέχνη ανήκει σε όλους και δεν πρέπει να τοποθετείται μόνο σε θέατρα, μουσεία και γκαλερί. Έτσι λοιπόν με πολύ ενθουσιασμό αποφασίσαμε να δηλώσουμε συμμετοχή και να μοιραστούμε με όλους τη δουλειά μας.
Α(r)CT – Ελένη Παπαϊωάννου
‘Di Modica isn’t happy about the recent addition of the widely buzzed-about Fearless Girl to downtown Manhattan park Bowling Green. In a press conference Wednesday, Di Modica’s lawyers argued that the bronze girl defiantly staring down Charging Bull (1989) isn’t so much art as an advertisement by the work’s corporate sponsors, allowing them to profit from Di Modica’s piece and violating his copyright. But they also charge that the new statue—which ostensibly highlights the gender and pay gap on Wall Street—alters the originally positive message of Charging Bull without Di Modica’s permission, violating the artist’s legal rights. Although a lawsuit has not yet been filed, even the potential claim raises novel legal questions about whether a statute known as the Visual Artist Rights Act (VARA) protects the intangible message of a work of public sculpture.’
SO, Back in 1987 there was a global stock market crash. […] Arturo Di Modica, a Sicilian immigrant who became a naturalized citizen of the U.S., responded by creating Charging Bull — a bronze sculpture of a…well, a charging bull. It took him two years to make it. The thing weighs more than 7000 pounds, and cost Di Modica some US$350,000 of his own money. He said he wanted the bull to represent “the strength and power of the American people”. He had it trucked into the Financial District and set it up, completely without permission. It’s maybe the only significant work of guerrilla capitalist art in existence.
People loved it. The assholes who ran the New York Stock Exchange, for some reason, didn’t. They called the police, and pretty soon the statue was removed and impounded. A fuss was raised, the city agreed to temporarily install it, and the public was pleased. It’s been almost thirty years, and Charging Bull is still owned by Di Modica, still on temporary loan to the city, still one of the most recognizable symbols of New York City.
And that brings us to March 7th of this year, the day before International Women’s Day. Fearless Girl appeared, standing in front of Charging Bull. On the surface, it appears to be another work of guerrilla art — but it’s not. Unlike Di Modica’s work, Fearless Girl was commissioned. Commissioned not by an individual, but by an investment fund called State Street Global Advisors, which has assets in excess of US$2.4 trillion. That’s serious money. It was commissioned as part of an advertising campaign developed by McCann, a global advertising corporation. And it was commissioned to be presented on the first anniversary of State Street Global’s “Gender Diversity Index” fund, which has the following NASDAQ ticker symbol: SHE. And finally, along with Fearless Girl is a bronze plaque that reads:
Know the power of women in leadership. SHE makes a difference.
Note it’s not She makes a difference, it’s SHE makes a difference. It’s not referring to the girl; it’s referring to the NASDAQ symbol. It’s not a work of guerrilla art; it’s an extremely clever advertising scheme. This is what makes it clever: Fearless Girl derives its power almost entirely from Di Modica’s statue. The sculptor, Kristen Visbal, sort of acknowledges this. She’s said this about her statue:
“She’s not angry at the bull — she’s confident, she knows what she’s capable of, and she’s wanting the bull to take note.”
It’s all about the bull. If it were placed anywhere else, Fearless Girl would still be a very fine statue — but without facing Charging Bull the Fearless Girl has nothing to be fearless to. Or about. Whatever. Fearless Girl, without Di Modica’s bull, without the context provided by the bull, becomes Really Confident Girl.
Fearless Girl also changes the meaning of Charging Bull. Instead of being a symbol of “the strength and power of the American people” as Di Modica intended, it’s now seen as an aggressive threat to women and girls — a symbol of patriarchal oppression.
In effect, Fearless Girl has appropriated the strength and power of Charging Bull. Of course Di Modica is outraged by that. A global investment firm has used a global advertising firm to create a faux work of guerrilla art to subvert and change the meaning of his actual work of guerrilla art. That would piss off any artist.
See? It’s not as simple as it seems on the surface. It’s especially complicated for somebody (like me, for example) who appreciates the notion of appropriation in art. Appropriation art is, almost by definition, subversive — and subversion is (also almost by definition) usually the province of marginalized populations attempting to undermine the social order maintained by tradition and the establishments of power. In the case of Fearless Girl, however, the subversion is being done by global corporatists as part of a marketing campaign. That makes it hard to cheer them on. There’s some serious irony here.
And yet, there she is, the Fearless Girl. I love the little statue of the girl in the Peter Pan pose. And I resent that she’s a marketing tool. I love that she actually IS inspiring to young women and girls. And I resent that she’s a fraud. I love that she exists. And I resent the reasons she was created.
I love the Fearless Girl and I resent her. She’s an example of how commercialization can take something important and meaningful — something about which everybody should agree — and shit all over it by turning it into a commodity. Fearless Girl is beautiful, but she is selling SHE; that’s why she’s there.
Should Fearless Girl be removed as Di Modica wants? I don’t know. It would be sad if she was. Should Di Modica simply take his Charging Bull and go home? I mean, it’s his statue. He can do what he wants with it. I couldn’t blame him if he did that, since the Fearless Girlhas basically hijacked the meaning of his work. But that would be a shame. I’m not a fan of capitalism, but that’s a damned fine work of art.
I don’t know what should be done here. But I know this: Arturo Di Modica has a point. And I know a lot of folks aren’t willing to acknowledge that.
source: https://gregfallis.com/
This past Sunday, artist Paul Weston vowed to mail one piece of art to Donald Trump every day for the next four years of his presidency. Why? “I’m not his biggest fan,” says Weston. “But I thought, ‘If he keeps taking things away—arts funding, basic rights—I’m going to keep giving.’”
Like many artists and members of the cultural community across the U.S., Weston didn’t take kindly to the news last week that a proposed budget includes axing the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)—along with the funding the organizations provide to artists and arts organizations across the country.
Weston wasn’t immediately sure where to direct his anger, or how to help effect change. “I’m not a political person. I really just know a few jokes and how to make art,” Weston confides. “And I do have tons of art. So I thought, ‘maybe that’s my ammunition.’”
Photos courtesy of Paul Weston.
For the past 20-some years of his adult life, Weston’s work has looked at the influence of consumerism and media on contemporary culture. He’s forged artworks, zines, buttons, and stickers. Often, they’re disseminated through Weston’s alter-ego, the not-so-subtly dubbed “Instigator.” But, indeed, his mail art campaign—called #148milliondollars, after the amount of funding the NEA will lose if Trump’s proposed budget is approved—takes a decidedly more political tack.
To date, Weston has mailed six works of art to the new President. Some have gone to the White House itself and some to Trump Tower. They aren’t text-heavy or overtly aggressive. But they are bold expressions of creativity. One shows a drawing of an igloo topped with a TV antenna—it could be read as a statement against global warming by a concerned artist, or simply the pastime of a man on his Sunday morning.
Another work, which he hasn’t mailed yet, shows the word “NO” with a heart embedded in the middle of its second letter. For Weston, the heart conveys numerous meanings, among them his own resilience: “My heart isn’t broken yet by this new administration, but pumping like Hell,” he says.
The artist hopes others will join him in his campaign to help expand its impact—and he’s begun to spread the word. “This isn’t a me thing, it’s a we thing. Everywhere I’m going I tell whoever I see—at openings, at lectures, in the streets. I’m not someone who usually asks for help, but I am now.
Photos courtesy of Paul Weston.
Weston began speaking about the project and broadcasting it through his Instagram account on Monday. And he says a number of other artists including Brock Enright, T.R. Ericsson, and DB Burkeman, have already agreed to join up and send their own art to the White House and Trump Tower, albeit not everyday for the next four years as Weston himself has pledged.
But it’s not just professional artists who Weston aims to engage. “My five-year-old niece Ellis is my most vocal spokesperson,” he says. “She is really angry that Big Bird could be going into the deep fryer,” he continues, referencing the fact that Sesame Street, his niece’s favorite TV show, is hosted on PBS, which also loses funding under the proposed cuts. Ellis will be sending art to Trump too, and Weston hopes other children will follow suit.
Weston has budgeted to spend $178.85 in stamps over the next year into order to fulfill his mission, a small price to voice his support for the NEA’s important work on behalf of creatives. And next month, he plans to use his presence at the L.A. Art Book Fair to bring the #148milliondollars campaign to an even wider audience. If enough artists and average citizens take part in the project, Weston hopes that “it will show [Trump] the talent and creativity that is here in the United States.” Whether that will be enough to save the agency remains to be seen.
—Alexxa Gotthardt
In 1963, an artist named George Maciunas put forward a rallying cry for a new movement in art, one that he would call “Fluxus.” Like many of his avant-garde predecessors and peers, he chose to make his case known in the form of a manifesto. The document was itself a work of art, composed of several dictionary definitions of the word “flux,” from which Fluxus takes its name, followed by handwritten notes that expanded on its various meanings. Beneath the entry defining flux as a purging or discharge of fluids, Maciunas wrote in an insistent hand: “Purge the world of bourgeois sickness, ‘intellectual,’ professional & commercialized culture, PURGE the world of dead art, imitation, artificial art, abstract art, illusionistic art, mathematical art, — PURGE THE WORLD OF ‘EUROPANISM’!”
Fluxus’s spirit of rebellion against the commercial art market, elitism, and the conventions of both art and society had its roots in Dada, Futurism, and Surrealism, while its irreverence and youthful energy were in tune with the burgeoning counterculture of the 1960s. Though its nucleus was in New York City, where Maciunas and many other artists were based, Fluxus projects popped up across Europe and in Japan. The movement attracted a loosely affiliated, international group of artists, designers, poets, and musicians who readily embraced one of its central tenets: the total integration of art and life. In his manifesto, Maciunas described the work that would result from this integration as “living art, anti-art…NON ART REALITY to be fully grasped by all peoples, not only critics, dilettantes and professionals.”
Intentionally uncategorizable, Fluxus projects were wide-ranging and often multidisciplinary, humorous, and based in everyday, inexpensive materials and experiences—including everything from breathing to answering the telephone. When asked to define Fluxus, Maciunas would often respond by playing recordings of barking dogs and honking geese, perhaps confounding his questioner but also demonstrating the experimentation and embrace of absurdity at its core. Performances—which Fluxus artists called “Events,” in order to distinguish them from Happenings and other forms of performance-based art—were a significant part of the movement. These were largely based on sets of written instructions, called “scores,” referencing the fact that they were derived from musical compositions. Following a score would result in an action, event, performance, or one of the many other kinds of experiences that were generated out of this vibrant movement.
With Maciunas as its founder and central coordinator, Fluxus lasted from 1962 until the artist’s untimely death in 1978. A polymath, the Lithuanian-born American studied architecture, art history, graphic design, and musicology. This formidable educational background and his highly playful, utopian vision shaped all of his work, not least the movement itself.The artists, designers, poets, and musicians who rallied around Maciunas’s call for a radical, egalitarian new art were as diverse as the work that came out of the Fluxus movement. Many were inspired by elder artist, composer, and musician John Cage. Through his work and his charismatic teaching, he demonstrated that art and life could be fluidly interchangeable. He did this, in part, by welcoming chance into his musical compositions—including ambient noises or the sounds of audience members coughing, stirring in their seats, and sometimes even heckling the performers—and by using such things as everyday household objects as instruments. Cage’s drive to find artistic potential in the everyday resonated with the Fluxus artists.
Widely recognized as the originator of musical Minimalism, composer and artist La Monte Young was also associated with Fluxus. His compositions were characterized by their pared-down structures and exceptional length. In 1960, he collaborated with artist Yoko Ono to organize a series of events by artists, dancers, musicians, and composers held in Ono’s studio in downtown New York, known as the Chambers Street Loft Series. Maciunas attended, along with many other artists who would become involved with Fluxus. Ono’s studio would become a hub of innovative and experimental new work.
In 1964, Ono debuted one of her seminal performance works, Cut Piece. Sitting alone on a stage with a pair of scissors in front of her, she instructed the audience to take turns approaching her and using the scissors to cut off a piece of her clothing. She remained nearly motionless and expressionless as various audience members obliged, sometimes aggressively. As she wrote about the experience in 1966: “People went on cutting the parts they do not like of me finally there was only the stone remained of me that was in me but they were still not satisfied and wanted to know what it’s like in the stone.” Ono has reprised the piece over the years, and wrote a step-by-step performance score for anyone to recreate it—which many people have done, and many more will likely continue to do.
Like so many of their peers, early Fluxus members Nam June Paik and Alison Knowles worked across media. Paik, considered a progenitor of video art, was one of the first artists to make art out of televisions and video cameras. These technologies form the core of his pioneering sculptures, installations, and performances, which range from austere and meditative to cacophonous and bursting with an onslaught of imagery.
In his performance works, Paik immersed audiences in richly visual and aural experiences, centered upon ingeniously altered television sets and cleverly rigged video cameras. He collaborated with avant-garde cellist Charlotte Moorman on a number of musical performances, including one in which she played his TV Cello (1971). Paik crafted a working cello out of a stack of three television sets whose varying shapes and sizes together mirrored the contours of the actual instrument. Each set displayed images as Moorman played, switching between a live feed of the performance itself, a video collage of other cellists, and a television broadcast.
For her part, Knowles created performances, sound pieces, installations, sculptures, book objects, and prints that have their roots, in part, in her early association with Cage. In 1962, the composer—who, as it turns out, was a mushroom enthusiast—co-founded the New York Mycological Society, which Knowles joined. “You can stay with music while you’re hunting mushrooms,” he once said. “[A] mushroom grows for such a short time, and if you happen to come across it when it’s fresh it’s like coming across a sound, which also lives a short time.” Knowles credits their time together foraging for wild mushrooms as important in helping her to develop her vision and leading to her incorporation of food into a number of her Fluxus projects.
While it might be an overstatement to say that the Fluxus movement revolutionized the art world or the real world in the ways that Maciunas called for in his manifesto, it did help to radically change notions of what art could be. With their work, the Fluxus artists pushed art well outside of mainstream venues like galleries and museums. Their informal, spontaneous, and often ephemeral pieces were not only difficult to collect and codify; they were also sometimes hard to recognize as art. But museums and galleries eventually caught up and absorbed their work. So too did younger generations of artists, who continue to build on the freedom that the movement introduced into artmaking with their own work. The next time you walk into an art space and find a pot of curry bubbling on a burner (as in the well-known piece, Untitled (Free), 1992, by the Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija) or a sculpture composed of things you might find in your own home, thank Fluxus for helping to lay the groundwork.
—Karen Kedmey
[Source: artsy]
A(r)CT 