Thighs of Demeter

Thighs of Demeter, 2022

2,5 x 8,2 x 12 m

 

The goddess Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, offer the ideal narrative for the merging of the inorganic with the organic element and how seemingly different entities and physical phenomena, defined by movement or immobility, animate and inanimate matter, flourishing and withering, can overlap and not work in opposition. The installation is a strict geometric delimitation that functions as a mechanism of gestation and harvesting, with agricultural activities being linked to the erotic act. However, the erotic narrative in this monumental sculptural installation is not only underlined by the triangular shape of its structure, but is also found in the functionality of the construction. The “thighs of Demeter” function as an insect shelter with floors consisting of different recyclable materials and plants, which “seduce” all kinds of insects that assist in the pollination process. The architectural scale of the construction connects to the notion of moira as protractor measurement unit with the notion of moira as destiny and luck. The stakes of this upright and vertical anthropomorphic field do not only concern the surface of the earth and the height of a “wind-friendly” structure, but also address a reverse course, where height can be understood as an ultimate depth. All the agricultural activities that Demeter (earth mother) takes care of by plowing, sowing and harvesting, also involve the chthonic element. Persephone and her stay in Hades for some months of the year reflect the continuation of a permanent existential narrative with the natural life cycle of plants as a symbol of birth, death and rebirth. 

 

MYSTERY 22 | Straw falling on concrete floors
Kostis Velonis

2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture @2023eleusis 

Wednesday-Sunday 17:00-21:00

Old Olive Mill, Elefsina

28/8 - 23/10

 

Cur. by Zoi Moutsokou @zoi_moutsokou , Ioanna Gerakidi @ioanna.gerakidi 
Architectural curation: A Whale’s architects @a_whales_architects & Diogenis Verigakis @diogenisver 
opbo studio @opbostudio 
Scientific and material contribution: Agricultural University of Athens @agricultural_university_athens 

 

“Sculpture is what you bump into when you back up to see a painting”

«Γλυπτική είναι αυτό  που σκοντάφτεις  όταν κάνεις πίσω

 για να δεις  ένα ζωγραφικό έργο»

 “Sculpture is what you bump into when you back up to see a painting”

Barnett Newman 

Ειδική βιβλιογραφία, σημειώσεις

References, works cited, notes

 

Τέχνη στο συγκείμενο (Art in context ) 

Αμφισβητήσεις της δεξιότητας στη νεωτερικότητα 

ΑΣΚΤ -Χειμερινό εξάμηνο/ Εαρινό εξάμηνο

Αμφιθέατρο νέας βιβλιοθήκης,  Πειραιώς 256

Κωστής Βελώνης

 

 

Αριστοτέλης, Πολιτικά, μτφρ. Λεκατσάς Π., Αθήνα: Ι. Ζαχαρόπουλος, 1939.

 

Αριστοτέλης,  Περί ζώων μορίων, μτφρ. Συλλογική,  Αθήνα : Κάκτος, 1995 

 

Brascusi’s Studio

https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/collections/brancusis-studio

 

Burton, Tim, On Brancusi, NYC:  The Museum of Modern Art, 1989

https://assets.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_2133_300062903.pdf

 

 

Castañeda, Luis M., “Doubling Time,” Grey Room 51 (Spring 2013): 12–39. 

http://www.greyroom.org/issues/51/14/doubling-time/abstract/

 

 

Detienne Marcel. Συγκρίνοντας τα μη συγκρίσιμα,  μτφρ. Μαρκέτου , Πελαγία,  Αθήνα : Μεταίχμιο, 2003 

 

Detienne, Marcel. Vernant, Jean Pierre, Μήτις : Η πολύτροπη νόηση στην αρχαία Ελλάδα, μτφρ. Παπαδοπούλου, Ιωάννα, Αθήνα : Ζαχαρόπουλος, 1993 

 

Eco, Umberto. Η ομορφιά της λίστας,  μτφρ. Δότση Δήμητρα, Αθήνα: Καστανιώτης, 2010.

 

Hess Thomas B., Barnett Newman, NYC: Museum of Modern Art, 1971

 

Jones, Jonathan.  Newman's Broken Obelisk: the end of a political dream, Guardian 22 oct. 2008 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2008/oct/22/barnett-newman-obelisk  

 

Όμηρος, Ιλιας, ραψωδίες Α-Ω, μτφρ. Μαρωνίτης,  Δημήτρης , Αθήνα: Αγρα, 2012 

 

Newman, Barnett, Broken Obelisk 

http://www.barnettnewman.com/broken-obelisk/   

 

Newman,  Barnett , Achilles 

https://kostisvelonis.blogspot.com/2019/11/achilles.html

 

 King, Martin Luther. I have a dream Speech, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C

 

https://www.archives.gov/files/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf

 

 

Krauss, Rosalind. Sculpture in the Expanded Field
, October, Vol. 8, Spring, 1979, pp. 30-44

http://www.onedaysculpture.org.nz/assets/images/reading/Krauss.pdf

 

 

Polcari, Stephen. Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk, Art Journal, Vol. 53, No. 4, Sculpture in Postwar Europe and America, 1945-59 , Winter, 1994, pp. 48-55

 https://www.jstor.org/stable/777561?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents   

 

Rosenberg, Harold. Broken Obelisk and Other Sculptures,  

Index of Art in the Pacific Northwest, Number 2. Henry Art Gallery / University of Washington Press ,1971

 

 

Velonis, Kostis. Conflicts in the City: Between Hypsipolis and Apolis, State of South spring / summer 2014

https://www.academia.edu/13654296/Conflicts_in_the_City_Between_Hypsipolis_and_Apolis  

 

 Vernant, Jean Pierre. Ο «καλός θάνατος» του Αχιλλέα,  Ανάμεσα στον μύθο και την πολιτική, μτφρ. Γιόση Ι Μαιρη, Αθήνα : Σμίλη, 2003

 

 

 

 

Indestructible ( broken)

Indestructible (broken), 2020 

Marble, wood, stones 

199

#Destefoundation, #gravity #masonry#petrification  #sculpture #kostisvelonis #hydra #hydraslaughterhouse,# exhibition #199 

 

199

199, Hydra Slaughterhouse until November 1
Deste Foundation/ National Historical Museum of Athens
#funerary #masks #destefoundation#nhmuseumofathens #collection #brass#sculpture #kostisvelonis #fighters#greekrevolution #filikietairia #hydra #199 — at Hydra Island Greece.

Indestructible (Broken)

Indestructible (Broken), 2020
Marble, wood, stones
199
27.6.2020-1.11.2020
Deste Foundation Project Space, Slaughterhouse, Hydra
#destefoundation #gravity #masonry #debate#sculpture #kostisvelonis #hydra #indestructible#marble #stones #transfiguration #boecklin#petrification #solidity #instability#hydraslaughterhouse #exhibition #199 — in Hydra, Greece.

Broken Obelisk

Thomas B Hess, Barnett Newman, NYC: Museum of Modern Art, 1971

Σπασμένες πτέρνες και Οβελίσκοι / Broken Heels and Obelisks

Σπασμένες  πτέρνες και οβελίσκοι   / Broken Heels  and Obelisks 

Martin Luther King, I have a dream Speech, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C

https://www.archives.gov/files/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf

Polcari, Stephen,  Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk, Art Journal, Vol. 53, No. 4, Sculpture in Postwar Europe and America, 1945-59 , Winter, 1994, pp. 48-55

 https://www.jstor.org/stable/777561?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Krauss, Rosalind, Sculpture in the Expanded Field
October, Vol. 8, Spring, 1979, pp. 30-44

http://www.onedaysculpture.org.nz/assets/images/reading/Krauss.pdf

Jonathan Jones, Newman's Broken Obelisk: the end of a political dream, Guardian 22 oct. 2008 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2008/oct/22/barnett-newman-obelisk

 Hess Thomas B., Barnett Newman, NYC: Museum of Modern Art, 1971

 Vernant, Jean Pierre, Ο «καλός θάνατος» του Αχιλλέα,  Ανάμεσα στον μύθο και την πολιτική, μτφρ. Γιόση Ι Μαιρη, Αθήνα : Σμίλη, 2003

 Vernant, Jean Pierre, Περί ορίων: Ανάμεσα στον μύθο και την πολιτική ΙΙ,   μτφρ. Γιόση Ι, Μαιρη, Αθήνα : Σμίλη, 2008

Eco, Umberto, Η ομορφιά της λίστας,  μτφρ. Δότση Δήμητρα, Αθήνα: Καστανιωτης, 2010

Όμηρος, Ιλιας, ραψωδίες Α-Ω, μτφρ. Μαρωνίτης,  Δημήτρης , Αθήνα: Αγρα, 2012 

Barnett Newman, Broken Obelisk 

http://www.barnettnewman.com/broken-obelisk/  

Barnett Newman, Achilles 

https://kostisvelonis.blogspot.com/2019/11/achilles.html

Brancusi, Endless Column

https://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag02/janfeb02/column/column.shtml

Governor’s Island

Life Without Tragedy,2019 

 Picnic Point, Governor’s Island 

Developed by Christian Kotzamanis, commissioned and produced by Onassis Culture, as part of the Onassis Festival 2019: Democracy is Coming, co-presented by Onassis USA and The Public Theater, cur. by Meredith Johnson, USA

Voyage around my Room

Voyage around my Room

The particular exhibition embarks from Virginia Woolf’s legendary essay “A Room of One’s Own”, written in 1926, and its relevance to newly introduced sociological and political concepts like digital feminism and the #metoo movement. The room (ma chambre), personal space as described in Xavier de Maistre's classic book "Voyage Autour de Ma Chambre" (1794), where the title derives from, as well as concepts such as privacy, autonomy and self-expression are key points of reference to the exhibition works created by international contemporary artists and writers. The exhibition attempts to initiate a new discourse on the notion of room and personal space in continuation to the discussion that originated in classic essays and works of literature.

How to guarantee conditions of contemplation to the older feline population, 2006, wood, 310 x 165 x 52 cm

Participating artists: Sophia Al Maria, Theodoros Chiotis, Dora Economou, Philomena Epps, Jeanne Graff, Juliana Huxtable, Dimitris Ioannou, Sharon Kivland, Sylvere Lotringer, Jonas Mekas, Maro Michalakakos, Eva Stefani, Amalia Ulman, Kostis Velonis 

Exhibition curator: Kika Kyriakakou

Duration: March 18 – April 21, 2019
Location: Athens Municipality Art Center

Athens World Book Capital 2018 City of Athens, of which major donor is Stavros Niarchos Foundation, organizes the group exhibition “Voyage around my Room” in partnership with the City of Athens Cultural, Sport & Youth Organization (OPANDA).

Inauguration of three public artworks in collaboration with Eleni Kamma

On June 2nd the city councilor Noël Lebens inaugurated the three public sculptures ‘Unity in Diversity’ in Sittard, Geleen and Born. The three sculptures each have three columns, where respectively one, two or three columns ‘fall over’. The rope holds the poles together and prevents the trinity to lose it’s balance. The color scheme for the ropes was made in collaboration with children of local primary schools, envisioning the future colors of the three urban centers.

http://breghoremans.com/inauguration-three-public-artworks-in-collaboration-with-eleni-kamma/

https://sittard-geleen.nieuws.nl/nieuws/20180604/kunstwerken-eenheid-verscheidenheid-op-afstand-onthuld/

Square the Block

Square the Block (2009) is a major architectural intervention, which has been installed on the corner of one of the London School of Economics’ most prominent buildings. The sculpture appears to an abstraction of the corner that both mimics and subtly subverts the existing façade of the building. The stonework looks as if it has been jumbled and crumpled up, then just reattached to the building. It deliberately upsets the perception of the building from something quietly solid and dignified into something unsettling and fallible.

The corner of the building was actually originally chamfered, this allowed Richald Wilson to construct elements that projected from it. Then to construct the artwork, the artist, working with engineers Eckersley O’Callaghan, created copies of a number five-storey vertical slices from the neighbouring buildings. Moulds were taken from these and the resultant casting fixed to a three-dimensional aluminium truss , which was six storeys in height and approximately triangular. The pieces of the sculpture were constructed from a water-based acrylic composite: Jesmonite. This was selected because it was economical to produce, light enough to be carried by the existing building structure and had a close visual match to the Portland stone cladding. The completed sculpture assembled on the ground and the complete piece lifted into place. It was hung on the side of the building from the fifth floor only and tied back to the building at second and sixth floors for stability.

The sculpture makes no architectural and functional sense other than matching the cornice work and completing the corner. Its position means that it is sometimes unnoticed, overlooked and therefore the moment of incongruity and recognition is often delayed and thus amplified. It is an intervention that both mimics and subtly subverts the existing facade of the building.

http://www.msa.mmu.ac.uk/continuity/

Monument to the "First!"

Monument to the "First!", Avtory monument. Αrchitects : Rafael Revzin and Valery Serebryakov, opened August 16, 1970. 

Falling Triangles

Falling Triangles, 2016

(Based on Goeritz's “Torres Piramidales”)

Concrete, wood 

30 x 9 x 23 cm

Torres piramidales

Mathias Goeritz, Torres piramidales (maqueta), c.1965-70

Open Chapel

Mathias Goeritz, Capilla abierta, Parque de las Estrellas, Jardines del Bosque

 1957-1958 

In the garden known as Parque de las Estrellas, Mathias Goeritz created the Open Chapel, a project where he once again brought together the ideals of spirituality and architecture. He conceived the idea of a space of visual contemplation connected to metaphysics, a space that was at once contained, container, and open. Bounded by four walls approximately seven meters in height that are not joined at the corners, visitors could enter from any of the four sides. Inside, in the center, the void is complete , an absence of all and presence of nothing, only the tectonics of the materials where the roof is replaced by the sky, as the fifth facade. This work displays the spiritual aims of Goeritz: entering into the sacred enclosure , the view is drawn upwards, towards creation, a tangible emotion, and isolation form the outside world. Unfortunately these intentions were lost altogether when the chapel was renovated. Architecture and ideals alike were radically transformed, and it is currently a civil registry office.

Text by Christian del Castillo, David Miranda

Congreso

Congreso, 2016

Wood, plywood, acrylic, oil

123 x 82 x 25 cm