Emilia Papafilippou is a distinguished artist that I did not know personally. But I felt very proud approaching her work and knowing that she is a graduate of my school. So I asked her to meet me and talk about her work.
Emilia, what is the first creative moment you remember?
– “As if I remember that I was in my crib. I watched the sun’s rays flow into the room through tiny holes in the blinds. Thin, solid spikes of light surrounded me dancing around me. But when I tried to touch them, to catch them (I remember trying and raising my hands) this was impossible! And the dust… or was it not dust? It swirled and swirled but never fell…
LACK OF GRAVITY
UNCOUNTABLE
BEAUTY
HAPPINESS
ABSOLUTELY NO CHECK ON ANYTHING…
This is the first creative moment I remember, of intense observation and parallel realization of my existence. I consider it valuable as it summarizes all the issues that interest me despite the fact that I am still an infant! As a text it is (in English) part of my performance.
from the installation of Emilia Papafilippou “FIXed in Flux” and the demolition of the wall in the opening exhibition of the National Museum of Contemporary Art in 2000
-Special moments from your school years at Pierce.
-I remember writing and looking out of the room at the hill with the blossoming almond trees… last grades and therefore ‘us in the flowering of adolescence. In fact, it was as if I remembered that I had left the classroom and was writing a report (?) Under an almond tree!
The interplay of Pierce architecture and Nature around was really a “school” in itself… I am unfortunately learning that access to the hill has been blocked with ironwork.
Time in the Library: I was allowed by the Lyceum Master if I want to go to the library and read, even during classes! The combination of tolerance and trust has trained me to be a responsible reader as well as a researcher.
Βόλλευ/Παιχνίδι/Σχέσεις!:
MOMENTS WHEN THE BALL JUST APPEARED TO COME WITH A SLOW MOTION!
THE PARADOX OF PERCEPTION IN AWARENESS!
FIXed in Flux ”, 2000, videostill, similarity of white noise with the shimmering sea and ideogram of“ Chess Continuum ”by Emilia Papafilippou
The ideogram of “Chess Continuum”, threads, black light, by Emilia Papafilippou
-What supplies did studying in New York give you?
-Many and varied!
I will never forget my professor, the pioneering video artist Peter Campus that in addition to giving me the scholarship and the position of his assistant (teaching scholarship from New York University), made me / us the honor to bring a work, his, in class because as he publicly stated he wanted our opinion! This is unthinkable for the Greek data, where knowledge tends to be considered theatrical and exploratory thinking is not reinforced through dialogue.
As you understand, despite the honor he bestowed on me / us, he taught me by example, not to consider myself the center of the world.
-What is art for you?
I CONSIDER ART THE TECHNOLOGY OF THOUGHT AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
WHERE WORKS OF ART ARE PARALLEL TOOLS BUT ALSO ACHIEVEMENTS.
In modern terms, Art and Culture is software (software – open source code), which is passed down from generation to generation and is constantly redesigned, while also shaping its users in terms of mentality, and possibly changing the synapses themselves brain transforms the body itself (hardware).
“FIXed in Flux” (presentation), EMST, 2000 by Emilia Papafilippou
-What is the role of black light in your installations?
-The black light of transformation into matter, use of matter, a simple thread seems to be “intangible”, “light”, ray of light… make me concerned with difference, and the transformation of the service of technology, into black light from the ones sitting in the application of my work, required multicolored multicolored for the soft, “feminine” personal use of thread….
-Tell us about quests, complementary and the viewer’s trust and nature in them.
ALL WORKS OF ART
FROM ALTAMIRA TO MODERN
THEY ARE SYSTEMS
WHICH IS ORGANIZED BY MAN
INITIATELY INVOLVING ITS OWN BUT ALSO EXPECTING THE INVOLVEMENT OF OTHERS.
Even other forces: in my mind I have cult / magical images / invocations that were buried and found in tombs. Simply, in the interactive installations the mechanism becomes more obvious and the viewer is declared as an active participant and part of the project.
“Pulse Fields”, video projection, Stoa Attalou, Ancient Agora, 2014
“Θεωρήματα”, ΕΜΣΤ, 2018, selfies της Μ.Π. στην προβολή “Chaosmos”
“Theorems”, EMST, 2018, selfies of M.P. in the “Chaosmos” view
– Conceptually, the availability of intervention in the public space begins in 2000 with my work “FIXed in Flux”, in the opening exhibition of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, which was declared to be in the ruins of FIX / FIX.
IGNORING MUSEUM CONTRACTS
offered to us – I mean the “empty white room” (white cube), in the middle of the ruins but with billboards of the FIX building – I tore down a wall and bridging “order” and “chaos” I commented, (not without difficulties), the institutional situation and status of the “Museum”.
AN ADDITIONAL INTERVENTION IN PUBLIC SPACE: THE PROJECT “PALMIC FIELDS” IN THE ANCIENT MARKET, UNDER THE ACROPOLIS, IN 2014 WITH THE SUPPORT OF POLICUS.
This was also NEON’s first assignment.
In Rhodes, with the invitation and sponsorship of the Rodos Palace Hotel in the context of the celebrations for its 45 years of operation, and under the auspices of the French Institute, the South Aegean Region and EOT, the kind support of the French Consulate in Rhodes and the Ephorate Of Antiquities of the Dodecanese was the project “Continuous Chess: The Eternal Now”.
“Chess Continuum: The Everlasting Now”, a snapshot from the screening of Emilia Papafilippou
It took place in the fortification walls of the Medieval City of the Knights of Rhodes, which has been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.
I CONSIDERED A KEY, THAT ON THE WALLS (WHO HAVE SEEN SO MANY RAIDS AND DISASTERS),
WE WILL THINK ABOUT THE PRESSURE ISSUE OF DISASTER
OF THE PLANET AND WE WILL WONDER IF THE “AENAO NOW” WILL CONTINUE TO INCLUDE THE EXISTENCE OF MAN…
video presentation of the video installation in Rhodes
video recording of the video installation in Rhodes
-What are you doing at the moment?
– I “deal” with the work to the extent that the work “deals” with me εί It guides me, it chases me, it catches me, I escape, I catch it, it escapes…!
“BEING THE GAME AND THE GAME’S GAME”
“Being the Game and the Game / Prey of the Game” I used to write trying to describe this feeling.
-What advice would you give to a young artist?
TO WORK AND NOT TO CONSIDER HIMSELF “ARTIST”.
“Salt Testament”, Bozar, Brussels, in the context of the report of the Greek Presidency to the EU. “Nautilus: Traveling Greece”.
Social media:
http://aemiliapapaphilippou.com
https://independent.academia.edu/AemiliaPapaphilippou
video “Chaosmos” by Emilia Papafilippou
“Chess Continuum: The Everlasting Now”, “Chess Continuum: the Eternal Now”, 2019The interview of our fellow student Mrs. Emilia Papafilippou was published at www.artviews.gr
