Kostis Velonis

Gra(m)mary of Puppetry

28 Marzo – 4 maggio 2013

A distanza di ben cinque anni, la galleria Monitor è lieta di annunciare la nuova personale dell’artista greco Kostis Velonis dal titolo Gra(m)mary of Puppetry.
La ricerca di Velonis prende le mosse da un passato artistico illustre e complesso con riferimenti al costruttivismo russo e al bahuaus, passando per i movimenti radicali del ’68 e la differente sottospecie del genere di Democrazia. Con Gra(m)mary of Puppetry, Velonis mette a punto una vera e propria mappa per uno sguardo filosofico sul mondo del teatro. Influenze provenienti dall’antichità greco-romana -in cui il teatro costituiva una delle principali forme di espressione e comunicazione- unite ad una grammatica squisitamente moderna, confluiscono in una sorta di atlante psicologico che Velonis costruisce negli spazi della galleria per investigare la natura del “Teatro dell’oggetto”. Attraverso disegni, stampe fotografiche e sculture, l’artista greco rilegge il mondo della figurazione teatrale, in cui la marionetta, nella sua accezione di oggetto-racconta storie viene riletto in una chiave più ampia che include anche un forte aspetto politico e sociale.
La grammatica della visione-intesa quasi come un processo di scrittura- viene usata per ripercorrere gli stadi della rappresentazione e delle regole quasi magiche che la guidano. I delicati disegni su carta enfatizzano la genesi della marionetta, dell’oggetto in movimento trattenuto da fili (dal termine greco Neurospaston), mentre i collage costituiscono una sorta di atlante di riferimenti visivi (Puppet Cosmogony), pensato come un insieme di documenti che affrontano alcuni paradossi ed estremi del Teatro dell’oggetto; nelle ampie sale, l’apparente astrattezza delle sculture di piccole dimensioni, favorita dall’uso di materiali poveri e di recupero, si rivela necessaria al fine della realizzazione di un palcoscenico scabro e minimale, in cui l’attore -o la marionetta- possano muoversi ed esprimere tutta la loro fisicità.
Così Chus Martinez ha sintetizzato la complessità dell’opera di Velonis: “le sculture di Kostis Velonis possiedono alcune delle qualità di un Manifesto […]. Velonis riprende le grandi narrazioni e gli edifici di idee, portandoli all’interno di sotto-narrazioni di lotte personali, passioni e solitudini. La sua opera implica un processo di traduzione infinita. La forma definitiva di un pezzo è determinata da una vera e propria collisione di molte interpretazioni che riguardano l’eredità del passato che coesiste con la grammatica del qui ed ora.” Private Dictionary, Creamier (London: Phaidon, 2010).

Kostis Velonis

Kostis Velonis (1968, vive e lavora ad Atene)
Select shows: 2013 Hells as pavilion, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; At Table and in Bed, Andreas Melas & Helena Papadopoulos Gallery, Athens, Greece; Direct Democracy, MUMA, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; 2012 Newtopia: The State of Human Rights, Kazerne Dossin Museum and Documentation Centre of the Holocaust and of Human Rights, Mechelen, Belgium; “Material and Culture” – MAK Center for Art and Architecture-Schindler House, Los Angeles, USA, MAK Schindler Scholarship, Architect in Residence. 2011 The promise of Happiness [SOLO], Signal Center for Contemporary Art, IASPIS Artist in Residence, Malmo, Sweden (2011); Building the Stage, Omikron Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus; Melanchotopia, Witte de With Contemporary Art Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands; 2011 “An Elusive Object of Art”, Dana Charkasi Gallery, Vienna, Austria , “Utopia”
, Lanitis Centre, Limassol, Cyprus, A Rock and a Hard Place, 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece; 2010 Pastoral Dreams in the Days of Bankruptcy, Dana Charkasi Gallery, (solo) Vienna, Austria; Loneliness on Common Ground: How Can Society Do What Each Person Dreams, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece; The Marathon Marathon Project, Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece; Politics of Art, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece. 2009 “How one Can Think Freely in the Shadow of a Temple” (solo) Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. 2nd Biennial Athens, “The World Question Center”, Athens, Greece.

ENGLISH VERSION

Kostis Velonis

Gra(m)mary of Puppetry

March 28th – May 4th 2013

Five years on from his last show at Monitor, we are now pleased to announce the opening of Gra(m)mary of Puppetry, new solo show by the Greek artist Kostis Velonis in our space. The artistic research conducted by Velonis takes its cue from a complex and illustrious artistic heritage spanning Constructivism to Bauhaus, besides drawing on the radical artistic currents of the late-Sixties and and different subspecies of the genus of Democracy.
With Gra(m)mary of Puppetry Velonis has charted a philosophical outlook on the world of theatre. Influences from the Classical world, where theatre was one of the major forms of expression and communication, have been worked into an exquisitely contemporary artistic lexicon to develop a kind of psychological ‘atlas’ that Velonis has constructed directly in the gallery, and which sheds light on the nature of object theatre.
Through drawings, photographic prints and sculptures Velonis offers a new interpretation of theatrical performance in which the marionette – in its role of object and storyteller – takes on a wider significance of a strongly political and social nature.
The structure of the artist’s vision – intended almost as a writing process – is used to trace the various stages of the representation together with the almost magical rules that guide it. The delicately executed drawings emphasise the genesis of the marionette -or object moved with the aid of strings (from the greek neurospaston). The collages instead stand as a kind of visual reference road map (Puppet Cosmogony) conceived as an assemblage of documents that deal with certain paradoxes and extremes in object theatre. Within the large spaces of the gallery, the humble, recycled materials of which they are made underscore the apparent abstract nature of the small-scale sculptures. As it turns out, the scale of the objects is a necessary requisite for an unadorned and minimal stage in which the actor – or marionette – is able to move and freely express him/itself.
Chus Martinez considers the sculptures of Kostis Velonis “to have some of the qualities of a manifesto […]. Velonis weaves great narratives and vast ideological constructions into sub-narratives of personal struggles, passions and solitude. His work entails an infinite translation process. The final form of an object is determined by a collision between many interpretations, involving a coexistence between past heritage and the language of here and now.” Private Dictionary, Creamier (London: Phaidon, 2010).

Kostis Velonis

Kostis Velonis (1968, lives and works in Athens)
Select shows: 2013 Hells as pavilion, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; At Table and in Bed, Andreas Melas & Helena Papadopoulos Gallery, Athens, Greece; Direct Democracy, MUMA, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; 2012 Newtopia: The State of Human Rights, Kazerne Dossin Museum and Documentation Centre of the Holocaust and of Human Rights, Mechelen, Belgium; “Material and Culture” – MAK Center for Art and Architecture-Schindler House, Los Angeles, USA, MAK Schindler Scholarship, Architect in Residence. 2011 The promise of Happiness [SOLO], Signal Center for Contemporary Art, IASPIS Artist in Residence, Malmo, Sweden (2011); Building the Stage, Omikron Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus; Melanchotopia, Witte de With Contemporary Art Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands; 2011 “An Elusive Object of Art”, Dana Charkasi Gallery, Vienna, Austria , “Utopia”
, Lanitis Centre, Limassol, Cyprus, A Rock and a Hard Place, 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece; 2010 Pastoral Dreams in the Days of Bankruptcy, Dana Charkasi Gallery, (solo) Vienna, Austria; Loneliness on Common Ground: How Can Society Do What Each Person Dreams, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece; The Marathon Marathon Project, Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece; Politics of Art, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece. 2009 “How one Can Think Freely in the Shadow of a Temple” (solo) Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. 2nd Biennial Athens, “The World Question Center”, Athens, Greece.