A
Whales Architects, The Turk, 2014
The
expanded term “trickster”, as a deity that, in shamanistic
mythologies, bears the characteristics of an anthropomorphic animal
but also the qualities of a mythological hero who breaks the laws
while being in fact a seducer. The game between two related
definitions – the one who works miracles and the trickster – can
be useful for appreciating a direction of today’s visual
production. If we consult the ancient Greek definition of “metis”,
which means cunningness and skill, we see that doing the trick was
coming along with both the materialization of a technical invention
or immediate necessity, and the styles of the artistic practice.
The
problem arisen unexpectedly, the apparent impasse not predicted in
the original design, lurks as contingency in the practices of the
artists examined here, as well as in our lives. But through the
multiple and variable wavering of Metis, it turns into a beneficial
accident, something not only manageable but almost desired. The point
of friction operates as a signal for the change of course and
tactics. It did and does indicate the internal dynamics of
situations, goes back to Odysseus and his “many devices”, is
opportunistic in the strategic meaning of the term, outside its
moralistic and negative meaning, and joins up with “cunning
intelligence”: the kind of noesis that Plato overthrew for the
purpose of establishing the idealistic thinking.The
vision of the curator of this exhibition is to assemble works of
contemporary artists who, by their tactics, bring forth the reading
of the world as a permanent global variation, where apparently
insignificant details of daily practice find their meaning in the
evolution of things, and the conjunctures are no longer problematic
imponderable factors but the field of genesis of new dynamics.
Valentina
Karga, "Summer school for Applied Autonomy" , 2014
In
those works and tactics, a kind of intelligence still survives, which
does not paralyze in front of the unpredictable (the conjunctions),
which is able to cope with perplexities in front of the distance that
separates an ideal project from the effort of its implementation.
Participating
artists: A Whales Architects, Arvanitis Nikos, Kamaris Stephanos,
Karga Valentina, Kessanlis Nikos, Kotionis Zissis, Kotsoni Eleni,
Ntelakos Apostolos, Pantazopoulou Ioanna, Sachini Nana, Sachpazis
Costas, Sagri Georgia, Sepetzoglou Nikos, Touloudis Petros.
Curators:
Alexandros Psychoulis, Kostis Velonis
,
theoretical back-up: Phoebe
Giannisi
a.antonopoulou.art
gallery, Athens : 29.9 – 22.11.2014
