You are working as a musician and producer since 2010. Could you tell us how you have developed in the last years?
I've started out indeed as a music producer around the beginning of this decade but soon I reached the conclusion that making music is not enough to express my thoughts, feelings and ideas. Right after the release of my debut album "Green" I start to experiment with the design of visuals and art installations while writing code, struggling to get out my laptop everything I could use to express myself. Around that time I start to envision, design and create audiovisual performances, art installations and software where music, sound and visuals work together towards the aesthetics that currently characterise my work. In 2015 I released the audiovisual album and performance “False Awakenings” followed by a series of collaborations and the co-creation of interactive and non-interactive audiovisual installations such as “Mutual Wave Machine”, “PLPLPL.PL”, “ANIMA”, “POLARIS” and “In Girum”. Since a while, I'm performing “Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows” - premiered January 2018 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam - at festivals and galleries around Europe. In the meantime I’m preparing an audiovisual album based on this performance to be released Spring 2019.
Can you explain the performance title and elaborate on the narrative of “Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows”?
“Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows” is a personal journey towards a more introvert way of living. While creating the narrative of the performance I wanted to discover for myself what it is that connects me with the region (Cyprus, Eastern Mediterranean) where I grew up and developed the foundation of my personality and view of the world. I realised that what we people accept as place of origin, is what the establishment imposes on us which is usually the fabricated idea of nation and country. I visited the area again and again trying to understand what it means to me; nothing more than an introvert way of living, the experience of my reality, not a poor representation of it.
Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows exists of a variety of source materials, such as field recordings, human voices and images of the Troodos mountain range. How do you choose these materials?
I go searching for material that I can later analyse algorithmically and extract the ingredients I’m looking for, examining the relation between texture and structure. I avoid distinguishing between sound and visual material. I research the properties of material that functions as a whole, in parallel and in contrast with its individual elements to advance the narrative of the work. In this work in particular the narrative of personal space, the unique identifier in each everything. The Troodos ophiolite that has been uplifted and exposed above sea level consists of rock formations rich in texture that reveals their underlying structure and the structure of the mountain range itself.
Working with these materials, how does the imagery connect to the audio in your work?
The imagery, sound and music in my work complement each other without falling back to a direct one-to-one relation. Imagery, sound and music are connected merely through the narrative of the work. Despite the fact that both audio and visual material are created exploring various generative and algorithmic techniques, the result is evaluated solely artistically based on personal aesthetic criteria.
Oddstream’s exhibition theme is Hidden Structures. It focuses on materialising hidden networks which influence our lives on a daily basis. In what way can you relate to this subject?
Oddstream’s exhibition and Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows are in alignment. Both examine the same subject from a different perspective. Oddstream’s exhibition focuses on materialising hidden networks while my work focuses on extracting the underlying, hidden structure of material. I think both approaches are rather fascinating and reflect well on the hidden and obvious complexity of our surrounding environments.
You will perform Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows in the historic cellars of Arnhem. Do you think the location influences the performance?
Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows is a live audiovisual performance. Every presentation of this artwork is unique and certainly every location influences the performance. Especially a location with such a strong character as the historic cellars of Arnhem. Not only the history but also the physical characteristics of the location, absorbing acoustics and richness of texture both visually and aurally will influence the performance.
You are working as a musician and producer since 2010. Could you tell us how you have developed in the last years?
I've started out indeed as a music producer around the beginning of this decade but soon I reached the conclusion that making music is not enough to express my thoughts, feelings and ideas. Right after the release of my debut album "Green" I start to experiment with the design of visuals and art installations while writing code, struggling to get out my laptop everything I could use to express myself. Around that time I start to envision, design and create audiovisual performances, art installations and software where music, sound and visuals work together towards the aesthetics that currently characterise my work. In 2015 I released the audiovisual album and performance “False Awakenings” followed by a series of collaborations and the co-creation of interactive and non-interactive audiovisual installations such as “Mutual Wave Machine”, “PLPLPL.PL”, “ANIMA”, “POLARIS” and “In Girum”. Since a while, I'm performing “Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows” - premiered January 2018 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam - at festivals and galleries around Europe. In the meantime I’m preparing an audiovisual album based on this performance to be released Spring 2019.
Can you explain the performance title and elaborate on the narrative of “Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows”?
“Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows” is a personal journey towards a more introvert way of living. While creating the narrative of the performance I wanted to discover for myself what it is that connects me with the region (Cyprus, Eastern Mediterranean) where I grew up and developed the foundation of my personality and view of the world. I realised that what we people accept as place of origin, is what the establishment imposes on us which is usually the fabricated idea of nation and country. I visited the area again and again trying to understand what it means to me; nothing more than an introvert way of living, the experience of my reality, not a poor representation of it.
Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows exists of a variety of source materials, such as field recordings, human voices and images of the Troodos mountain range. How do you choose these materials?
I go searching for material that I can later analyse algorithmically and extract the ingredients I’m looking for, examining the relation between texture and structure. I avoid distinguishing between sound and visual material. I research the properties of material that functions as a whole, in parallel and in contrast with its individual elements to advance the narrative of the work. In this work in particular the narrative of personal space, the unique identifier in each everything. The Troodos ophiolite that has been uplifted and exposed above sea level consists of rock formations rich in texture that reveals their underlying structure and the structure of the mountain range itself.
Working with these materials, how does the imagery connect to the audio in your work?
The imagery, sound and music in my work complement each other without falling back to a direct one-to-one relation. Imagery, sound and music are connected merely through the narrative of the work. Despite the fact that both audio and visual material are created exploring various generative and algorithmic techniques, the result is evaluated solely artistically based on personal aesthetic criteria.
Oddstream’s exhibition theme is Hidden Structures. It focuses on materialising hidden networks which influence our lives on a daily basis. In what way can you relate to this subject?
Oddstream’s exhibition and Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows are in alignment. Both examine the same subject from a different perspective. Oddstream’s exhibition focuses on materialising hidden networks while my work focuses on extracting the underlying, hidden structure of material. I think both approaches are rather fascinating and reflect well on the hidden and obvious complexity of our surrounding environments.
You will perform Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows in the historic cellars of Arnhem. Do you think the location influences the performance?
Go Back to Hiding in the Shadows is a live audiovisual performance. Every presentation of this artwork is unique and certainly every location influences the performance. Especially a location with such a strong character as the historic cellars of Arnhem. Not only the history but also the physical characteristics of the location, absorbing acoustics and richness of texture both visually and aurally will influence the performance.