Visual Dialogues 2013: Oracle by Yorgos Taxiarchopoulos

A digital example of the monotype editions the poet was publishing by himself. DIY handmade editions that gave him the flexibility to compose them every time differently according to the person that were about to be handed in and the symbolism or meanings Cavafy’s keen obsession was about to express and bring upon each of them. Taxiarchopoulos was inspired by all these details and selected nine different lines from different poems by Cavafy, he put them together in certain continuity and on a timeline creating a new synthesis, a composition of meanings, and a visual text. A visual poem with a beginning, main theme, and an epilogue in the prototypes of the poet’s storytelling. Based on images that refer to history, from ancient archeological sites and mysterious or continuous contemporary gestures and juxtapositions, Taxiarchopoulos aims to capture the viewer in his concrete poetical spot. Using images taken from the National Archeological Museum and the Epigraphical Museum together with moving images of his own contemporary imaginative capturing and editing, plus the sound parts of the readings of Cavafy’s poems included in the official web archive of Cavafy, he tries to suggest ways of synthetically investigating furthermore the famous poet’s work and discover the poetical relations of our everyday contemporary images to it.

This artwork was presented on 07.11.2013–07.01.2014 at Onassis Stegi, as part of Visual Dialogues 2013 “C. P. Cavafy at the Plato’s Academy Leisure Park”.