The Critical Practices Spring 2020 - OPEN STUDIO DAY

A WALK FROM KATO PETRALONA TO ONASSIS AiR

20:00

Audio-guided walk by Aris Papadopoulos starting in Kato Petralona and ending at Οnassis AiR space.

* Please note the walk has a capacity of 15 peοple. Please reserve your place at air@onassis.org. First come, first served.

AT ONASSIS AiR SPACE

20:45

Talk in the studio with Aris Papadopoulos

21:00

Talk and visual presentation on the terrace followed by a discussion with Laure Jaffuel

21:30

Performative presentation followed by a discussion with Yota Argyropoulou

Invitation design: mavra gidia

Scanning the Walkscape

by Aris Papadopoulos

Cities have endless layers. Longer and shorter hi-stories are written constantly in their paths. They are composed by visible and invisible traces that continuously re-configure their existence, and our courses in them. In this danced audio walk, Aris proposes to reveal a certain number of them: architectural choices and left-overs, vernacular habits and trades, national ideological narratives and their imprint on humans’ lives. With the use of movement and words, he guides us through a section of the city, joining together highly technical information and personal narratives.

Lenio Kaklea, 25/06/2020

The approximate duration of the walk is 45-50 mins on uneven terrain through the city. Participants need to be wearing comfortable walking gear and shoes and maybe bring some water with them. The language of the audio-walk is English. The day prior to the walk, each participant will receive an e-mail with instructions, meeting point, and an audio file. Each participant will be responsible for downloading the file on their own audio device (phone, player, etc.) and for bringing their device (fully charged) with them, as well as a set of headphones or earphones. The walk will end with a discussion at the Οnassis AiR space.

Mentors: Lenio Kaklea, Dimitris Theodoropoulos

Artist presentation

by Laure Jaffuel

Laure Jaffuel is a designer born in the South of France and based in Αthens for the past couple of years. During her residency at Οnassis AiR she has been researching the Athenian public space and its vernacular infrastructure. As a starting point, she has been questioning how different typologies of public space in Αthens are deploying strategies to create solidarities, social exchange and collective experience and how the Athenian public space can serve as a model for a social system constructed by vernacular gestures. The outcomes of her research will take the form of a publication as a collaborative platform to share her approach, including extracts from interviews and external contributors she invited along the way. Similar to the Athenian urban landscape, the publication aims to function as a multi-layered space, a hybrid format, and a story told by several voices. Laure proposes an ontological approach on public space and social commons, intentionally adopting a poetical and fictional language to address a political and critical subject. She uses the same design methodology that normally applies to her production to realize a publication; designing its agency rather than its function, creating a book like an object.

Approximate duration: 30 mins

Mentors: Maria-Thalia Carras & Olga Hatzidaki (locus athens), DOLCE

ALEX(A)

by Yota Argyropoulou

The transmission of signals such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and the distance between two individuals are the basic building block in communication. In the absence of those elements, when experiencing an exchange with no smell or body, communication is achieved through modern technology in a modified, mediated manner.

In her presentation, artist Yota Argyropoulou enters into a conversation with an AI machine about her artistic research. The blend between the digital and the analogue communication raises questions. To which extent can the device assist the artist in her presentation? Does an intelligent device know what art is? Or perhaps, how do machines relate to the real world?

The reality of a 17-year-old boy becoming an adult is a critical moment of transformation. The definition of identity, bodily change, sense of social belonging and political consciousness give shape to future citizens. Democratic, collective participation and political expression become important steps for youth to be introduced in the social reality of adulthood, of the justice system they will be part of. Police force often take the form of an arbiter of political and existential conflicts, of the technology of power and youth’s desire for change.

In the future, the outcomes of this research will manifest in a performance exploring the possibilities of portraying a teenager and his life through digital devices. The audience will be invited to his room, where a digital environment will become the narrator of his story.

Participants:

Alexa

Υoung boy

Performer

Approximate duration: 30 mins

Mentors/Dramaturges: Igor Dobričić, Miguel Angel Melgares