My Senior project's focus was based on the premise that visual complexity is a significant aesthetic element in the creation and perception of art and design. I addressed the question: What is the relationship between visual complexity and aesthetic value? I attempted to answer it by using what the Artists call "the predictive coding model" which is increasingly and fruitfully used to explain a wide range of findings in perception. Using the concept of prediction error from the predictive coding approach, I attempted to explore the basics of visual processing and connect it with the principles of "information theory"and cognitive neuroscience. In this project I tried to prove that it is right to be wrong independently if there is or not "freedom of choice". I argue that a true artist will use the "wrong choices" as a way to increase unpredictability. I used as an example the way the light behaves in nature meaning that it follows the shortest, thus straight, path going from point A to point B. Yet it seems, "all Roads Lead to Rome". Could it be that deviations from the shortest path which by itself is beautiful are "wrong decisions or mistakes?"It is those other choices I put the emphasis on and thus I have created geometrical shapes that create zig zag deviations because in this way I show that even if choose the "wrong path " at the end you will reach your goal, so it is right to be wrong. The viewer is also challenged by a series of "purposely made mistakes". The colorful ribbons make every choice have another "taste". I chose the seven colors of the rainbow as they are the product of visible white light passing through a prism thus increasing the possible options a viewer chooses to follow and thus end up with different paths or engage in cross-over regions or turning points the same way we choose paths in life. It was interesting to see if my viewers would "spot" the wrong choices and whether they would succeed in recovering the predictable pattern moving from a state of uncertainty to a state of increased predictability. Where is the golden ratio? Is it this balance that artists discover and create pieces of work that seem to violate aesthetics and artistic laws and yet end up having important artworks?
No limits_absolute freedom_infinite choices
Salt is the protagonist in my installation because as I concluded from my research it is an element with 14,000 uses in life.Even today, the history of salt touches our daily lives. The word "salary" was derived from the word "salt" because Roman legionnaires were paid in salt, "salarium" the Latin origin of the word. It served as currency at various times and places,and it has been the cause of bitter warfare. As an example, the salt tax was a significant cause of the French Revolution. In 1893 after the bankruptcy of Greece the loans were paid by the tax of the salt. Salt is the main ingredient of the human tears with water being absent as reflected by our present state of mind and exists even in our execution of in our feelings, in our teardrops. So I decided to create black teardrops made by black stockings that have inside salt not only because our teardrops are salty but also because of the psychological situation of the Greek people that I receive when I walk in the city, from the news, even sometimes from my colleagues.I chose black stockings because the tears are not tears of happiness, but of sadness. In my project I wanted to show the negative aspect of tears.I used stockings for practical reasons,because of their elasticity but also they are a material that mainly women use and it was familiar to me. This made me think of how something that we use to enhance our beauty, clothing, or dancing can be transformed to something that shows sadness. I chose to remove the water element from the teardrops as it is obvious many tears have dried out from many Greeks today as they find themselves trapped in despair and anxiety. Apart from the common stress, the Greek economic crisis is confronted with the most prevalent mental disorder in decades, depression. Fear and uncertainty about tomorrow are major health indicators of most Greeks and disease challenges women twice as often as men. Mrs. Daphne Kalogeropoulou a psychologist has shared some important findings with me. She informed me that in 2009 there was an average of 1 suicide per day in Greece while in 2010 there were 2. As a result we have 1,730 suicides in the last two years. While attempts are 3 times more common in women,men attain death 3 times higher.Obviously suicide attempts are more accepted as a reaction of protest to the female gender in our society. Additional research conducted by the Society of Social Psychiatry and Mental Health reveals that 7 out of 10 Greeks are on the brink of depression due to the economic crisis. This project is also a social based work meaning that I was inspired from my social environment and what I feel is the present state of mind of the citizens of my city. This is the reason that I decided to install it to the central square of Ag.Paraskevi. The work as an installation within its context that I decided to place it in this case in the central square of Ag.Paraskevi it was really different from what I expected. Meaning that the people and especially the kids gave me different interpretations of what I had thought about this project because they played with the tears but in some cases the tears became a "weapon" by pushing the tears violently. In addition, I installed it at Varvakios Agora in front of a butcher shop. The momentary occupation of the stand by an aesthetic presence confuses the usual operation of the butcher shop-but also of the artwork. Removed from the sterile environment of the art world, the art work's function and value is called into question. As aesthetic beings, the module may also draw attention to the aesthetic qualities of the meat and architecture. Equally, their occupation of a consumer display space presents them as products-cultural produce? The activity generated here is a consumer benchmark and, as, such an indicator of the economic whole. Here the installation appears perhaps as if certain sadness has crystallized upon the facade of the butcher shop. The curator of the exhibition at Varvakios Agora was Danae Filioti. The answer to all these sad outcomes maybe what Nietzsche said "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." The economic crisis can be an opportunity to become stronger. But to do this we must first be alive. What I wish the most, is that these tears will stop being dry and that water will come back to them to wash away all our tears and sadness.
The installation “I am unique” referred to human behaviour and how our personality and behaviour is affected especially by art, fashion, music and from the pop culture in general. The installation is based on the irony of the human uniqueness in contrast to the pop culture. The title “I am unique” comes in contrast with the repetitive scheme of lollipops on the wall. The installation consists of lollipops which are all at the same height, have same color and taste and are made by the same material. The lollipops are placed one next to the other on the wall with black tape creating Xs. The reason I chose lollipops for my installation is because first of all, they are very popular candies and are addressed to children. Children are the first that imitate behaviours in order to be socially accepted. The lollipop as an image belongs to the pop culture. Pop culture expresses the massiveness and it is heavily influenced by mass media. Second, the fact that lollipop is a candy it makes it desirable and when something is forbidden it becomes more desirable. There is the belief that as human beings we want what we cannot have. The x that is created by the black tape generates this illusion. In addition, the shape of lollipop with the tape can remind us a very quick drawing of an individual and it consists of three elements which are a vertical line, a circle and an x: | O x
‘Colliding Galaxies’ is a series of photographs of still lifes which was created by the photographer George Kroustallis in collaboration with the artist Maria Louiza Biri. Our still lifes explore the human body as an abstract form in combination with soft, solid, transparent and polished materials. Especially the skin fascinates us and we use it as our ‘new fabric’, we don’t consider it only as a part of the human body but in terms of materiality we give it a different meaning. Through our still lifes we create a new dialogue between light, materials, objects and the human body. In terms of composition, our still lifes are about precision. In terms of concept we try to portray a sense of curiosity, so that our viewers cannot understand immediately what they see and a sense of irony, meaning that we combine contradictory ideas in our photographs.
In Buddhism the term impermanence refers to ‘all of conditioned existence, without exception, is “transient, evanescent, inconstant”. ‘All temporal things, whether material or mental, are compounded objects in a continuous change of condition, subject to decline and destruction’. This concept fascinates me because humans by nature have the tendency to create ‘stable and permanent’ environments and situations in their life but this comes in contrast with the nature of life itself. So for this project I work with materials and textures that create the illusion of movement which is enclosed into geometric shapes/boundaries like the boundaries we human beings create in our life.
In Buddhism the term impermanence refers to ‘all of conditioned existence, without exception, is “transient, evanescent, inconstant”. ‘All temporal things, whether material or mental, are compounded objects in a continuous change of condition, subject to decline and destruction’. This concept fascinates me because humans by nature have the tendency to create ‘stable and permanent’ environments and situations in their life but this comes in contrast with the nature of life itself. So for this project I work with materials and textures that create the illusion of movement which is enclosed into geometric shapes/boundaries like the boundaries we human beings create in our life.
In Buddhism the term impermanence refers to ‘all of conditioned existence, without exception, is “transient, evanescent, inconstant”. ‘All temporal things, whether material or mental, are compounded objects in a continuous change of condition, subject to decline and destruction’. This concept fascinates me because humans by nature have the tendency to create ‘stable and permanent’ environments and situations in their life but this comes in contrast with the nature of life itself. So for this project I work with materials and textures that create the illusion of movement which is enclosed into geometric shapes/boundaries like the boundaries we human beings create in our life.
Material : Silicone boards.
