UN P R 18T at Centrum Berlin 14 -17 October 2021 Performance & pop-up exhibition
in collaboration with Filippos Raskovic
The various narratives of European philosophy and Reason, as well as, the overwhelming efforts of constructing a geographically based European identity, are crumbling down. Our generation is facing the end of Ratio-Reason and Europe has missed its chance of creating the foundations for a better living. Closed borders, walls, a collapsing European Union, the targeting and marginalisation of states and social groups, with the outbreak of the pandemic as the peak: a rise in the utilisation of science for political reasons, encroachment of human rights, a culture in a coma are some of the examples of the political, economical and humanitarian crisis that Europe is experiencing. Furthermore, a crisis of collective fantasy and of our ability to think of a different future is unfolding. The fossilised classic symbols of Europe remain unchanged, untouchable taboos carrying a stagnant meaning. Their historical legitimisation, resting on a pedestal that rises high above and far away from the present, obstructs any kind of dialogue with the present and the future. Post-European Rage Room is a sculptural and sound installation that will be activated through a performative event on 14 October , and will remain on display until October 17. The installation functions as a representation of a structural element; a pillar with monumental aesthetics, historical references and transmutations. This element will be gradually transformed into archaeological debris, after the destruction of the pillar with the help of the visitors/participants. Music is being placed between two continuous elements. The one is a constant layer of a string quartet. String quartets, ensembles of classical and contemporary western European music and have embodied the principles and the symbolisms of 18th century Enlightenment. The second layer ,on the contrary, consists of continuous, estranged, electronic sounds that are created through a self generative process. This layer tend to destroy the permanence. On top of these two elements one can hear the fragments of a mourning song of Nothern Epirus, a mourning for the lost values. After taking a short quiz, tokens in the shape of EU stars will be given to each visitor, which can be then exchanged for the amount of time and the tool that they want to use in order to destroy the pillar and the symbols which lay hidden inside of it. The design of the objects-symbols that constitute the installation, is the result of an automatic process of production of signified symbols without meaning, thus rendering design into a tool for the reproduction of stereotypical predetermined copies. The destruction of the objects-symbols becomes an organic procedure, as it takes place inside a space that is transformed into a “rage room”.
plaster, guliform, alumium pole and recycled polystyrene
in collaboration with Filippos Raskovic
The various narratives of European philosophy and Reason, as well as, the overwhelming efforts of constructing a geographically based European identity, are crumbling down. Our generation is facing the end of Ratio-Reason and Europe has missed its chance of creating the foundations for a better living. Closed borders, walls, a collapsing European Union, the targeting and marginalisation of states and social groups, with the outbreak of the pandemic as the peak: a rise in the utilisation of science for political reasons, encroachment of human rights, a culture in a coma are some of the examples of the political, economical and humanitarian crisis that Europe is experiencing. Furthermore, a crisis of collective fantasy and of our ability to think of a different future is unfolding. The fossilised classic symbols of Europe remain unchanged, untouchable taboos carrying a stagnant meaning. Their historical legitimisation, resting on a pedestal that rises high above and far away from the present, obstructs any kind of dialogue with the present and the future. Post-European Rage Room is a sculptural and sound installation that will be activated through a performative event on 14 October , and will remain on display until October 17. The installation functions as a representation of a structural element; a pillar with monumental aesthetics, historical references and transmutations. This element will be gradually transformed into archaeological debris, after the destruction of the pillar with the help of the visitors/participants. Music is being placed between two continuous elements. The one is a constant layer of a string quartet. String quartets, ensembles of classical and contemporary western European music and have embodied the principles and the symbolisms of 18th century Enlightenment. The second layer ,on the contrary, consists of continuous, estranged, electronic sounds that are created through a self generative process. This layer tend to destroy the permanence. On top of these two elements one can hear the fragments of a mourning song of Nothern Epirus, a mourning for the lost values. After taking a short quiz, tokens in the shape of EU stars will be given to each visitor, which can be then exchanged for the amount of time and the tool that they want to use in order to destroy the pillar and the symbols which lay hidden inside of it. The design of the objects-symbols that constitute the installation, is the result of an automatic process of production of signified symbols without meaning, thus rendering design into a tool for the reproduction of stereotypical predetermined copies. The destruction of the objects-symbols becomes an organic procedure, as it takes place inside a space that is transformed into a “rage room”.
plaster, guliform, alumium pole and recycled polystyrene
