25th of February

Kostis Stafylakis is an art theorist and artist. He graduated from the Athens School of Fine Arts. He holds an MA in Modern Art and Theory from the Department of Art History and Theory at the University of Essex and an MA in Continental Philosophy from the Department of Philosophy at the same University. He holds a Doctorate from the Department of Political Science and History, Panteion University (Athens). He has been a post-doc researcher at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2011-2012). He taught “Research-based art and the art field” as adjunct at the Unit of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Athens School of Fine Arts. He currently lectures on “Art and Visual Communication” at the Department of Architecture, University of Patras. He is the one half of KavecS artist duet (www.kavecs.com).

We met Kostis at 13:00 in a cafe to hear his perspective on the patriotism and nationalism withing the current greek art scene, heavily affected by both documenta 14 and the current political/economical situation in the country. 

He argued that many of the forms of art initiated both under documenta and against it, use tactics such as restistance (fx. resisting neoliberalism, capitalism ...), reclaiming (fx. territory for art practice) and solidarity (with the opressed), which share similarities with patriotic and nationalistic discourse. 

"Thinkers, artists, activists lamented over technocratic capitalism’s urge to destroy self-sufficiency, national community and locality. In this framework of mourning and ‘new-melancholy’, sovereignty was primarily understood as self-sovereignty. Even criticisers of the nation-state agreed that national self-sovereignty is a necessary step to a more internationalist terrain of emancipation: the struggle to ‘reclaim’ the local ‘resources’ was seen as the first priority in every possible agenda of struggles – the principal struggle, the one that fashions all others. A wide range of ideological spaces, from the greater part of the anarchist/antiauthoritarian space and the libertarian left to the new patriotic movements and anti-memorandum parliamentary parties, consented to this mantra."

from Kostis's post on the nationalisation of art and activisim:

http://littlegrapeguy.tumblr.com/post/146210789654/six-years-the-nationalisation-of-art-and

CHRISTOS CHRISSOPOULOS: INTERVIEW on 'THE PARTHENON BOMBER'

A novel at once metaphorical and iconoclastic, The Parthenon Bomber exposes the painful and maddening paradox of contemporary Greece.

“Blow up the Acropolis” was the 1944 call to action by the surrealist circle the Harbingers of Chaos. Sixty years later, a young man obliges. The Parthenon has been destroyed, the city orphaned. Is it still Athens?

All eyes are on the empty hill, now smoky and ashen. Cries of distress, indifference, and fanaticism fill the air. What were his reasons? How will he be punished for this unspeakable act of violence? What does it mean for Greece, now deprived of its greatest symbol?

This provocative tale reveals the unique dilemma of a country still searching for an identity beyond its past as the birthplace of Western civilization.

An English translation of 'The Parthenon Bomber' is due to be released by Other Press on the 20th June, 2017.

Christos Chrissopoulos (1968) has published 14 books and has engaged with different kinds of literature (fiction, essay, chronicle), with theory and photography. He has been awarded with an Athens Academy Award (2008) and the French awards Prix Laure Bataillon (2014) and Prix Ravachol (2013). He is a member of the European Cultural Parliament (ECP) and the European Society of Authors (SEUA), as well as an Iowa Writer’s Program fellow (IWP). In 2014, the French-German channel ARTE did a featurette on him. He has collaborated with many performers and artists in Greece and especially abroad. He has also given lectures and participated in many of festivals across Europe and the US. His books have been translated into twelve languages.

Chrissopoulos’ recent book “Wanderer Consciousness” (Okto Publications) is a collection of texts and images  approaching the questions of how human subjects associate with their deregulated contemporary reality, what kind of consciousness is the city wanderer developing, and how can the artist himself reflect upon his own perception.

PARIS LEGAKIS' MANIFESTO: CLAIM YOUR ANGER, ON POLITICS & POLITICAL ART

[CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW THE MANIFESTO]

Paris Legakis is a multidisciplinary artist, activist and theorist, born in 1981, Athens. 

In his work, Paris researches how art can be beneficial for the society and influential to politics.

Paris has written the manifesto ‘Claim your Anger, on politics and political art‘ and he has created his own methodology ‘Irregular Temporary Interactions‘ (I.T.I) to implement his performances-actions. 

SLAVOJ ZIZEK - AGAINST THE DOUBLE BLACKMAIL

[CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW THE DOCUMENT]

Today, hundreds of thousands of people, desperate to escape war, violence and poverty, are crossing the Mediterranean to seek refuge in Europe. Our response from our protected European standpoint, argues Slavoj Zizek, offers two versions of ideological blackmail: either we open our doors as widely as possible; or we try to pull up the drawbridge. Both solutions are bad, states Zizek. They merely prolong the problem, rather than tackling it. 
The refugee crisis also presents an opportunity, a unique chance for Europe to redefine itself: but, if we are to do so, we have to start raising unpleasant and difficult questions. We must also acknowledge that large migrations are our future: only then can we commit to a carefully prepared process of change, one founded not on a community that see the excluded as a threat, but one that takes as its basis the shared substance of our social being. 
The only way, in other words, to get to the heart of one of the greatest issues confronting Europe today is to insist on the global solidarity of the exploited and oppressed. Maybe such solidarity is a utopia. But, warns Zizek, if we don't engage in it, then we are really lost. And we will deserve to be lost.

MADE IN ATHENS: Reader I

[CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW THE DOCUMENT]

MADE IN ATHENS: READER I is an ‘messy’ accumulation of papers, articles and re- ports that set to function both as an informative docu- ment for – and as a question towards the current socio-political and cultural nar- ratives produced in Athens (and in Greece in general). 

Spanning from 2013 till now, the texts aim to build a back- drop for Kuvataideakatamia’s visit to Athens (late February 2017). 

They address issues of media representation, the persecution on ‘ anomie’, of cur- rent artistic production and the implication of Documenta 14 – along with matters of migration, the refugee crisis and the rise of fascism. 

They are further examined through a series of audiovisual links (lectures, documentaries) listed on the side. 

Their reference to names, events and locations are meant to be investigated by the group and spark discus- sion on how to approach our visit to the Greek capital. 

Enjoy....