Muted Distortions

Laboratory of individual researches / Exploration on the conceptual figure of noise*

metamatic:taf presented the exhibition Muted Distortions 

(06.12.2012 - 13.01.2013). 

The exhibition aims to bring together a group of artists, architects, designers and programmers into an exploration on the conceptual figure of noise*. The exhibition is set up as a laboratory where instead of simply presenting a collection of art works, there will be hosted individual researches in terms of ongoing processes. Tied together by a common point of departure - the noise -, works will diffuse into a diverse set of disciplines (architecture, sound art, motion design, etc.).

In the context of the Post-Fordist utopia where the industrial infrastructures are becoming immaterial clouds of information, life tends to be completely invested by acts of production and reproduction. While for the past generations the withdrawal from the workplace coincided with the withdrawal from the mass production chain, for the modern man leisure time does not mean not producing. Nowadays people in their leisure time constantly produce new immaterial products (web pages, internet groups, etc.) for corporations like Facebook, while reproducing and distributing products of multinational corporations such as movies and music through private massive channels of information like Google. 

Taking into account the fact that even when people are not working they keep producing value and products, thus social life itself becomes all the more a productive machine. To the extent to which living and producing tends to be indistinguishable, it becomes obvious that there is no longer any “outside”. Trapped in this loophole of our postmodern present, we turn towards its distortions, towards the proceedings which cause its disruption, we turn to noise*. As we are tuned on the low frequencies, Muted Distortions represent the interference in the signal of the flow of the information. They constitute the process of disruption, the nuisance to what is considered normal (or dominant), which becomes a structuring element of everyday life. 

Muted Distortions are the noise, but they are also a message, a bit of information producing the rupture of information.

* Noise is any information contained to a message that was not intended by the sender. Mulder Arjen, General Media Theory, V2_/Nai Publishers 2004.

Curator: Panagiotis Kovanis

Participating artists: Eleni Aidoni, Eleni Alexiou, Berhanu Ashagrie, Juliana Azevedo,Thalia Velegraki, Everdien Breken, Paul Buchanan, Penny Demertzi, Ingrid Edwards Sang Hee, Zilfo Eri, Fariborz Farid, Danai Gkoni, Loes Glandorff, Stavros Kontakis,Anna Kontonikola, Ilias Kontonikolas, Chrysoula Korovesi, Philippos Mouyaris,Alejandro Ramirez, Dimitris Rentoumis, Laura Pardo, Christina Spanou, Marina Stavrou, Giouli Tsatsopoulou, Giorgos Tsopanos, Leonardo Vargas, Fereniki Fotopoulou, Pavlos Chadoulis

You can visit a website about the exhibition: website 

Studios

Studios

Annual exhibition of graduates A.S.F.A / The first steps of the artists from the younger generation

metamatic:taf presented the annual exhibition Studios (Duration:Thursday 1 November until 2 December 2012). 

The exhibition hosted a collection of works by recent graduates of the Athens School of Fine Arts aiming to convey the artistic vibe of the school while opening a multiform discourse between works by young visual artists of different styles, techniques and perceptions. 

The necessity to present these works in unity arose primarily from the lack of exhibition field for the systematic study of the conceptual content and the structural elements of the arising contemporary Greek art, assuming that this systematic study can contribute as well as enhance the process of aesthetic perception and social acceptance.

The exhibition presented individual or group works of art, which constitute part of the artists’ thesis and have been selected with the intention to demonstrate the artistic and educational trends developing and prevailing under the present sociopolitical conditions in the contemporary Greek visual arts scene.

Through their works, some of the artists contemplate and comment the current situation with a derisive attitude, while others renegotiate the historical and artistic past and its projection into the present. 

However, there are also works of introversive and introspective character connotating a desire/attempt of retreating into a parallel imaginary universe. Having as central pillars of thought social considerations and the conformation of personal and collective memory, the exhibition as a whole perceives the artistic echo reflected by the first steps of the new generation of visual artists.

Curated by: Yalena Kleidara

Participating artists: George Gyzis, Maria Dagalaki, Manolis Daskalakis – Lemos, Giannis Delagrammatikas, Dimitra Dimopoulou, Krini Dimopoulou, Natasa Eustathiadi, Giannis Mouravas, Fani Bitou, Gabriel Pagonis, George Sampsonidis, Maria Tzanakou, Aristea Haroniti, Nikos Hatzikonstantis

[ + info ] 

Arktoyros - 20 years of action

20 years of action / 20 photographs of important moments of this difficult effort

metamatic: taf presented the exhibition ARKTOYROS 20 x 20 (Duration: Thursday, November 1 until 24 November 2012).

The environmental organization ARKTOYROS completes 20 years of action for the protection of wildlife and the natural environment, and organized a retrospective exhibition to present significant moments of this difficult journey. Through an expanded presentation featuring 20 photographs from their archive they attempted to communicate to the public the efforts undertaken under adverse social and economic conditions that make even more of these movements.

Notable photographers chosen to express visually the continuous action of the organization during these 20 years, the anxieties of everyday life of the participants but also the landscape beauty. The oldest bear of Europe, a proud wolf, a panoramic view of Nymphaeum while the sun sets, forest paths, one of the pictures that led to the stop of circuses with animals, colorful forest of Rodopi, alpine lakes of Grammos, snowy peaks, a bear rescue mission and other unpublished pictures are just some of the 20 photographs in the exhibition which unfolds Arktouros soul.

Participated: Melina Avgerinou, Loukas Chapsis, Kostas Georgiadis, Lazaros Georgiadis, Nikos Grammenopoulos, Nikos Kanellopoulos, Alexandros Karamanlidis, Giorgos Moutafis, Heleni Niarchou, Voula Papaioannou, Haritakis Papaioannou, Christos Stelios, Kostas Tsakalidis            [ + info ] 

Momentography - Supernova

Momentography / documenting our personal landscapes

"The Momentographer is now on operation. It is examining our extroverted microcosm and is recording the moments. The things we love, the things we hate, our friendships, our passions, our mistakes are being portrayed with an urban landscape as the background. Moments that are being captured in ten rooms, alternate in time, get confused with our feelings and sometimes overtake us.

Those moments where an old man, lost in his thoughts, is looking through his window, waiting for a sparrow to show up.

Two rooms after playing with time, are defining our days and our nights bringing to life bizarre moments of a different reality.

At a corner nearby there is a sack thrown: it is loaded with stolen smiles, thinks the single man of the close by apartment. He wakes up every morning all by himself, while his loneliness is painting his mornings gray. 

From the bedroom next door there are stories unfolding, photos and thoughts reach the roof. 

And yet another empty room. An empty self?"

Curated by: Constantine Belias, Thalia Geladaki, Katerina Paspaliari, Zois Halkiopoulos and Maria Sotiropoulou           

Exhibition Duration: 27.09-28.10.2012           [ more ]

'Super new' phenomena / social conditions and engraving 

"The very first moment incision begins, it marks the beginning of a story, whose purpose from that moment on is to keep unfolding, until it is ruined in order to create something new, a fresh ground. There is a constant parallelism between Printmaking, as we perceive of it, and the story of Supernova, this “Super new” phenomenon that is directly related to today’s social standards. They resemble two voices that whisper to each other two versions of the same tale.

At the same time, our objective is the creation of a new reality through the noisy destruction of the past. Whether we refer to ideas or to lifestyles, the concept implicitly addresses today’s situation, the current conditions that prevail as our daily life as we knew it has collapsed. Therefore we are called to adjust by solving all the problems that have been caused by this collapse.

In July of 185 ac, astronomers in China who were observing the sky, observed and registered a new star that 8 months later couldn't be located any more. A giant star had exploded and the shining of that explosion reached our planet after having travelled in space for a few thousand years. It was a Supernova, the first Supernova to be seen and recorded by humans. It “ lived” for as long as the main explosion lasted, and then it vanished from human sight, leaving behind remnants and parts that are known as the Centaurus’ Nebula"

Curated by: Paraskevi Papadimitriou

Participating artists: Matina Georga, Kleves Krisico, Paraskevi Papadimitriou, Miltiadis Petalas, Nikos Staurakantonakis, Orestis Symvoulidis, Marilena Synodinou

Exhibition Duration: 27.09-28.10.2012            [ more ] 

Utopraxia/Ecophenomena

 

Utopraxia

The exhibition Utopraxia refers to the moment when a seemingly unrealizable intension becomes real. In a minimum amount of time there is a radical -renewing and violent together- perceptive and cognitive expansion.

The revelation of the multiple inconspicuous possibilities inherent in any standstill is magnificent. Its magnificence lies at the sudden transition occurring when the temporary character of all previous conventions is raised, revealing new extensions of freedom.

At those moments, the non-place of utopia slippers to implementation, letting definitions that have been attributed to utopia hovering in mid-air.

The exhibition shows a series of conceptual artifacts. The artworks present transgressive thoughts and penetrating messages that were visualized in order to be communicated.

[ more ]

The exhibition Utopraxia will be completed in two parts. A second exhibition will take place in winter 2012-3.

Participating artists
Kostas Bassanos, Vanessa Billy, Martin Creed, Maria Georgoula, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Runo Lagomarsino, Filippo Minelli, Navid Nuur, Miklos Onucsan, Yiannis Papadopoulos, Kostas Sahpazis, Nedko Solakov, Efi Spyrou, Theodoros Zafeiropoulos

During the exhibition, Werner Herzog’s short film Last Words (1968, B&W 13’) will be screened on loop.

With the support of Goethe-Institut Athen.
Curating: Evangelia Ledaki

(Utopraxia will run until September 2nd, 2012)








 

 

Ecophenomena 

The exhibition Ecophenomena underlines a new form of social sustainability creating the conditions for coexistence and dialogue between selected creators, groups and technicians that explore a new, inventive, at the same time ecological way of living.

Participants from different areas compose targeted proposals for a wide range of basic human needs, from nutrition to housing. Diverse proposals such building with the use of natural materials and self-managing household energy are being presented together with installations by architects and graphic designers in an effort to urge our daily life towards a more ecological direction.

[ more ]

Participants
doxiadis+, Filoi tou podilatou - Athens, Free and Real, Alex Ikonomidis, Kollektivemind*, Living Green, Metoo, Nea Gouinea, Piliko

Curating: Ifigeneia Papamikroulea

( Ecophenomena will run until September 2nd, 2012).

May's Exhibitions I

2+2=5
Konstantinos Pettas, Foteini Chandra
23.05.2012 – 3.06.2012

 

3137 invites you at the show “2+2=5” which is an attempt to negate the notion of self-evident truth. It describes how assumptions can be perceived as “ the truth”, depending on which social environment they are presented in. The exhibition explores how two different parts stop functioning individually but as a whole. The works are being created to be presented in the same space so as to be completed through their coexistence and interaction.

 

Biomorphic forms are the common reference point of the two artists. Konstantionos Pettas investigates the relationship between objects and mental processes. Through the representation of inaccessible symbols he examines the relationship of humans with supernatural and devotion. He questions in which extent faith, knowledge and dogma are socially valid in our days and if they remain indisputable. With reference to internal elements of the human body Foteini Chandra creates volumes out of fabric that develop in space. She investigates the relationship between the internal and the external and how it is reversed when revealing what lies beneath the surface.

 

Once upon a sponge

10.05 - 16.06.12 

TAF presents the exhibition Once upon a sponge by Papairlines, until the 16th of June 2012.

The exhibition Once upon a sponge aims to showcase the different perspectives of design. Design is not just encountered in windows of high-end shops, but also something we experience and interact with on a daily basis: from a sign and a widely recognisable piece of furniture to a love note and a D.I.Y. object that adapts random and accessible materials. Design is about identifying, analysing and solving problems in our everyday life as well as commenting on social phenomena and behaviours.

 

 

For the exhibition Once upon a sponge, 20 designers conceptualise and construct unexpected and imaginative narrative objects with the final destination being to show and tell stories through the use of the iconic yellow sponge. The sponge, a neglected everyday object, transforms into a construction material for the passengers - designers of Papairlines who are invited to redefine the form and the established use of the sponge in order to challenge the perception of the public. The objects emerging from this process will be landing in TAF.

 

At the same time a collection of photographs showcases a series of spontaneous, D.I.Y objects, created by non-design professionals, who at a lack of resources, creatively subvert existing objects to solve problems and overcome design weaknesses.

Papairlines is a creative platform that focuses on exposing the methodologies and process behind all things designed: from an experience to a product and a service with which we interact, inadvertently or not, on a daily basis.

 

Participating designers

157+173 Designers, Ritsa Αnastasiadou, Marcia Argyriades, Christina Billiouri, Angela Chrissaiti, CTRLZAK, DEDE Dextrous Design, Jazzt Design, Kanella, Sotiris Lazou, Vassilis Mylonadis, Kikos Papadopoulos, Stathis Petropoulos, Kallirroy Spyridonos, Zaxos Stathopoulos, Marc Schulthess, Wedid-ID, Alexandros Xanthakis

Curating: Papairlines / Loukas Angelou, Vasso Asfi, Costas Bissas

Apousia (Absence)

Konstantina Katrakazou was inspired by the theme of absence after a long period of philosophical research with the rest of the members of an interdisciplinary group consisting of Fay Zika, Louiza Karapidaki, Thanassis Hatzopoulosand the artist herself.

 

Through her installation the artist explored the transformation of absence into presence. Beginning with death, a form of absence so radical and taboo one refrains from speaking of it, all forms of absence nowadays tend to be invalidated.

 

 

In that installation the artist used various media to explore the concept of absence, primarily in terms of lack of communication and to confront us with another dimension of the idea of absence. Her point of reference is the contradiction of an absent-present person.

 

The exhibition/installation "Apousia" (Absence) is followed by an open discussion on the topic of absence in various fields, a poetry evening, and a guided tour by the artist and the curator. Art historian Louisa Karapidaki curated the exhibition.