Part of: Fast Forward Festival 6
Visual Arts

FFF6 | The Gift of Automation

Petros Moris

Dates

Tickets

Free admission

Venue

Athens

Time & Date

Day
Time
Venue
Day
Sunday 5 - Sunday 19 May
Time
12:00-20:00
Venue
The Hypatia Mansion Garden (Patission 55 & Ipirou st. - entrance from Ipirou)

Information

Information

Exhibition: 5-19 May | 12:00-20:00 | Free admission

Open Discussion: Sunday 12 May | 18:00-20:00* | In English with simultaneous translation into Greek

Lecture Performance: Sunday 19 May | 18:00-19:00* | In Greek only

*Free admission, on a first come first served basis. Limited seats.

Introduction

A series of anti-monumental public sculptures installed in the forecourt of the Hypatia Mansion. Petros Moris’ hybrid creations engage with ancient automata and their educational legacy while making reference to elements drawn from street art and Internet culture.

Ancient automata (self-operating machines) meet the urban underground and Internet techno-culture in Petros Moris’ sculptural installation “The Gift of Automation”. Setting out from his discovery that ancient automata, developed in civilizations stretching from Mediterranean to Asia, were not only luxury crafted items that inspired awe but also a kind of common good that offered knowledge and aesthetic pleasure, the internationally-acclaimed 33-year-old visual artist traces the thread that connects open scientific communities with the copyrights-free models of today. Petros Moris’ modern-day “automata” – a series of hybrid public sculptures that are simultaneously reminiscent of sculptural plinths, theater stages, and scaffoldings – are presented in the forecourt of the Hypatia Mansion, and enter into dialogue both with the legacy handed down to us from the time of the Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer and mathematician who gave her name to the neo-Baroque mansion, and with the National Archeological Museum and the National Technical University of Athens standing opposite.

Utilizing documentations from public sculptures that adorn the urban fabric of Athens, as well as three-dimensional models available on the Internet, Moris creates his own abstract compositions that are realized in three dimensions via 3D printing and other more complex digital methods, but also through the use of more traditional means and materials, such as marble, cement and metal. The final sculptures are decorated with various illustrative elements – from invasive graffiti to vector graphics and freeware fonts – to create a poetic collage of bygone and cutting-edge technologies.

In a time where discussions surrounding copyrights-free resources and the commons are taking on new dimensions, Moris’ timely “gift” calls on us to contemplate through the myths and stories of the past, and through commonplace images drawn from our urban and digital realities. The challenges of today and tomorrow arising from the technological proliferation of automation and its effects on human labor conditions – a longstanding point of reference in Moris’ work – is brought to the fore in an allusive, multilayered way.

The Gift Of Automation

Read more
  • From quite a young age, Petros Moris turned his attentions to computing and information technology, with a view to studying programming and security network systems. His engagement with digital and online culture is combined with a practical interest in materials and handcrafting techniques that emerged during his earliest school days, when he spent time helping out at his parents’ mosaic workshop in his hometown of Lamia.

  • In the core to his work lies an interest in the dynamic relationship between memory and progress. He examines this conceptual configuration via a poetic reading of the intersections between the material and cultural stratifications that constitute the human, technological and cognitive environment, and of the interactions between natural and societal phenomena.

  • His research is undertaken through the creation of sculptural installations and artistic writing, as well as via a network of artistic, curatorial and publication-oriented collaborations. These collaborations delineate the conceptual and aesthetic framework within which his personal artistic output is developed.

  • In collaboration with Lito Kattou, he recently released “AM” – a literary, poetry and theory zine that brings together texts from centuries past that are now in the public domain, in order to create eclectic anthologies on a different theme for each issue.

  • Ancient automata were self-operating machines powered by steam, water, gravity and other basic means. They were developed by various cultures, from the ancient Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula, to India and even the late medieval Europe. Moris’ interest in these hybrids of technological innovation and art lies in their developing during the Hellenistic period, when the art of automata was taught by scientists of the day, particularly at the Library of Alexandria.

Parallel Events

Sunday 12 May | 18:00-20:00

Debating: The Gift of Automation

The speakers will explore the concept of technological automation as a kind of binate intellectual flight of fancy, though its mythological and historical roots down to its contemporary manifestations: from the automation of work in the Anthropocene to the development of artificial intelligence.

With: Debbora Battaglia (Research Professor of Anthropology), Daphne Dragona (Berlin-based curator and writer), Petros Moris, Matteo Pasquinelli (Professor in Media Philosophy at the University of Arts and Design, Karlsruhe)

Sunday 19 May | 18:00-19:00

Anima

Performative readings by Petros Moris and Lito Kattou, to the sounds of Khmer Rouge

An evening of readings, with texts taken from the latest issue of AM zine by Petros Moris, and accompanied by a live soundtrack performed by Khmer Rouge. "AM" is a literary, poetry and theory zine that brings together texts now in the public domain. Its second issue, "Anima", collates a peculiar anthology of texts and book extracts stretching from antiquity down to the mid-twentieth century, all of which concern themselves with the mythological and historical roots of technological automation and magical animism. "AM" is edited by Lito Kattou and Petros Moris.

Read more

From quite a young age, Petros Moris turned his attentions to computing and information technology, with a view to studying programming and security network systems. He combines an immersion in digital and online culture with a practical interest in materials and handcrafting techniques that emerged during his earliest school days, when he spent quite some time helping out at his parents’ mosaic workshop in his hometown of Lamia.

Core to his work is an interest in the dynamic relationship between memory and progress. He examines this conceptual configuration via a poetic reading of the intersections between the material and intellectual stratifications that constitute the human, technological and cognitive environment, and of the interactions between natural and societal phenomena.

His research is undertaken through the creation of sculptural installations and artistic writings, as well as via a network of artistic, curatorial and publication-oriented collaborations. These co-creations delineate the conceptual and aesthetic frameworks within which his personal artistic output is developed.

In collaboration with Lito Kattou, he recently released “AM” – a literary, poetry and theory zine that brings together texts from centuries past that are now in the public domain to create eclectic anthologies on a different theme for each issue.

Ancient automata were self-operating machines powered by steam, water, gravity and other means. They were developed by various cultures, from the ancient Mediterranean and Arabia through to India and even late medieval Europe. Moris’ interest in these hybrids of technological innovation and art lies in their study during the Hellenistic period, when the art of automata was taught by scientists of the day, particularly at the Library of Alexandria.

Credits

Concept & Creation
Petros Moris
Curated by
Katia Arfara
Studio assistance
Kallia Fysaraki
Special thanks
Lito Kattou, Daphne Dragona, Debbora Battaglia, Matteo Pasquinelli, Khmer Rouge, Efthimis Theou, Kostas Valatsos