panagiotis

Having worked at the vast field of Fine Arts for quite some time, experimenting a lot with different media, learning methods and disciplines and having gone through a very challenging and fulfilling procedure, I am in a position to say that even from the very first projects that I started to develop progressively a few years ago, I realized that certain ideas were “hunting” me and asked for expression in order to perceive and interpret the perennial architecture that governs our world, its existence and its myths. Therefore, I started my endeavor by articulating questions both in the theoretical and practical field, through an extensive research on Art and Architecture history, seminars and dissertations alongside with developing my work through drawings, installations, outdoor interventions and actions. My research and experimentations revolve around the following notions (key words): time and architecture, landscape and the city, memory, nature and human existence – action. I have obtained a postgraduate degree (MA) in Art in Architecture in London, this very promising and exciting metropolis. My studies, first in Athens ( BA) in Fine Arts and Technology and then in London along with the variety of different experiences and the joy of learning that comes with it, are the provisions I wish to put in use in my career and my future. My BA years were a precious experience for me, as during that time I commenced to formulate my “artistic character”. In order to achieve it I experimented and try different kinds of media and disciplines and achieved to build my knowledge, my critical thinking and, of course, my personal preferences on art. During this period I had the opportunity to develop my work under the supervision of important artists and lecturers in Greece, such as Nikos Navridis, Vlassis Kaniaris, Pandelis Chandris, Manos Stefanidis, Manos Doukas and Dimitris Moutsopoulos. I developed my first important work (Disabled Toys, 2001) through an outdoor installation at the terrace of an old building at the centre of Athens. I created a minimal construction made of bricks in which I situated playmobile figures within an enigmatic architectural environment. In this project I tried to identify the significance of the city as a spatial expression of human’s history, identity, behavior and communication. There is a fragile balance between symmetry and distortion, human action and disability. I was interested in the relationship between the playmobile figures, the construction of bricks, the city sounds and the pragmatic cityscape around the installation.My BA major dissertation was on Iannis Xenakis, this exceptional and pioneer composer and the intersections of sound and space based on the implementation of the famous “Philips Pavilion” together with Le Corbusier and Edgard Varese. At the same time I made an extend research on the developments in music during the 20th century (Serialism, twelve-tone system, etc), architecture (Modernism, Urban landscape, etc.) and art (Surrealism, Dada, Fluxus, Land art, Conceptual art). Having been influenced by my theoretical research I developed my final BA project (Inscriptions, 2002) under the supervision of Niko Navridis. I commenced with drawings and sound recordings and progressively I created an installation on the floor as a vast landscape made of marble sand and various items such as clothes, playmobile figurines, brick, drawings and pieces of photographs, where the human presence is there in the form of traces and inscriptions left by hand. A work which manifest itself as a symbolic wound of time full of numbers, symbols of human presence, scars, infinite actions and memories. It is an adaptable “sonic” surface in which the viewer is able to touch, to discover items, to write or draw a line as personal contribution to the installation. Time is the canvas on which we write, point out, or curve a course through action, our thoughts and our speech, our birth and our silence, expressing the need of defining the spirit to the infinity. The mass of time fills with our scars, fingertips and the changes we cause. Traumatic experiences, which are buried and others that will follow us forever. Images, loved ones, and the relics, which exist or are lost in the whiteness of time, pieces of a whole, which can never be compiled. We act upon the mass of time and time passes through our bodies to forever continue its course when we finish ours. As a tangible result to establish my artistic character I was awarded with the Motorola award for young artists and at the same time I participated at the Art and Communication Festival at the “Techno polis” Cultural centre of the Municipality of Athens. I also created a painting for the lobby of the Motorola offices in Athens. My MA year came as the best possible continuation as I had the chance to work with significant artists, architects and lecturers such as Jane Riches, Richard Wilson, Matthew Tickle, Grayson Perry and Derek James in order to investigate issues about Architecture, Public Art, Landscape Architecture, Installation Art and Urbanism. On the one hand, I studied in depth texts about Art and Architecture in connection to the history and symbolism of the urban landscape, philosophy, cinema, pagan religions, archaeology and psycho geography, alongside with the history of mnemo techniques. I also gave a seminar presentation (Architecture and Politics, 2004) based on my research for the grand projects of Paris and their impact to the city and the society. At this period I attended seminars and tutorials given by the well known artist Richard Wilson that played a crucial role to my work. As a tangible result my MA final dissertation: “ Four studies in deciphering the landscapes of memory and sound” was an extend research on the “Art of Memory” related to humans / individuals as receptacle – containers of memories - images, information, personal data and the notion of collective memory, by articulating the idea of the city through time as a memorable place, container and transmitter of knowledge, ideas, culture, and its significant codes and symbols alongside with their origins. I also researched on the intersections of sound with architecture and the visual arts in relation with the existence and symbolism of the build environment through the history, alongside with its perception and interpretation from humans. On the other hand, the elements of this research formulated the core of my projects under the general title:” Architecture of the Immune”, 2004 – 2007. I created a vast number of drawing books and sound recordings during my journeys in significant places in London, Athens and Paris (Books of the River 2003 – 2004), such as the underground system, railway stations and airports, rivers, temples and monuments in order to achieve a link between the urban landscape and my work. I continued with a performance at the river Thames in which I offered to the water the elements of the installation that I created for my graduation show (Intangible City 2004). At this project I created a transparent structure made of white strings and a marble sink full of rise adjacent to a wall with human figurines which are dominated by a central element, a mountain made of fabric, olive oil, soil and water from the river Thames. I was interested in creating a subtle and ephemeral environment, to give emphasis at the use and synthesis of natural elements (soil, river water) with artificial readymade objects (Plastic figurines, fabrics, polyester strings, etc.) in order to raise questions and define the origin of topos and architecture and their intersections with humans life, expression and mortality, the perception of silence as a spatial experience and the notion of collective memory related to the unconsciousness through a ritual approach. As a result for my theoretical and practical research I have obtained my MA in Art in Architecture with a distinction. Through a number of projects from 2004 until nowadays I have I tried to perceive the inner topoi of humans and its semiology, alongside with interpreting the outside - real world which oscillates between time and achrony, ephemeral and permanence, the atomic and the collective presence and expression. I am also fascinated by the powerful macro cosmos and its intersections with the small – micro cosmos as I try to create an eerie cartography of our urban life, history and culture. I emphasize on the nature, morphology and function of space through the idea of metamorphoses. (Untitled I – V, 2005 – 2007). I create fragile environments - syntheses made by various materials and I install them outside at public places, at the nature or in buildings. I also inscribe walls and streets by using materials such as broken bricks or salt and I apply water and olive oil in order to emphasize on the impermanent element of those actions and also, to interpret their enigmatic result in relation with the notion of metamorphosis and death. During this period I work on this area based on the triptych of synthesis, disaster and transformation, through vast structures, cells of dwelling, spaces embodied in myths and metaphors, symbolic forms and peculiar architectural environments made by various materials (Plastic figurines, wood, fabric, wool, salt, dead and alive animals, etc) and then by applying elements such as fire, water, saliva and soil as factors of birth, transformation and morph geneses, annihilation or loss, where ruins and psyche implement an imagery architecture. (Architecture of the Immune, 2004 – 2007). Furthermore, I document ate and study those actions – interventions through photographs and short videos. I hope that this text has helped you to obtain a first impression about me and my skills.Please feel free to contact me for any further enquiries. Thanking you in advance for your time. I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)