PRESENCE – The Ephemeral IKA Monument | ATHENS 2001-3

About This Project

This is an individually designed work, initially with 3 artistic photographs, and in the second phase a site specific, ephemeral locally defined installation and performing action in the public space. Final artistic product: photos, recording-video and banners about 2m x 1m. Materials: ready-mades (slippers, IKA badge, series of seats, patient bed). Place of realization: IKA [Social Insurance Foundation] – Peristeri First Aid Station, Athens, September 2003. Presented at the Symposium The Unmastered Past, Weimar, Germany, 2004. It was exhibited at the exhibition URBAN LEGENDS, curated by Marina Lagos at the Theatre of Epi Kolonos, in Athens in June 2007. Special thanks to Charisis Tsiouras for his valuable help in carrying out the action in the 2nd phase of the project.

 

Keywords: aura, presence, absence, etheric body, 3dimensional in 2dimensional, interaction, rehomeization, locally determined, vibrations, public space

 

Passing by the first-aid station of the IKA (National Health Insurance Institute), my eyes fell over a pair of forgotten slippers on the street. They were very carefully placed, neatly, one would say, on the pavement, in front of the external entrance of the institution. I felt, fleetingly, a presence of a body. She was, apparently, some elderly lady who had been rushed to the emergency room. The slippers were forgotten on the spot, keeping the aura of the body they supported. At the same time, the absence of this body was evident. It was this body that was missing to complete the image to complete the image. This item was the reason for this project. A series of different actions followed. 1st action was to install temporarily in situ some similar slippers in the area of IKA in 3 different places, in order to complete this late, this extinct “body”, to re-create anew a presence. The representation, that is, of the “magic” event, and their photography. 2nd action was the placement of one of these images on the spot. It was an attempt to recreate the event, an attempt to create a similar atmosphere to the one I felt. To give back to the place the aura that I “captured” with the photo shoot. 3rd action was, through this installation of the image, to have an ephemeral interaction with the place. Being there, having conversations with the passersby, I intended to create vibrations in the public space. My conversation with passers-by, patients and the stuff was a documentary on memories of people who have lived in political situations of the place, as well as an oversight over their aesthetics.

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Individual, Installations, New Media, Objects, Participatory, Performative, Photography, Presentation, Public Art