Featured in the "Dada and Democracy" exhibition organized by Artdoc magazine. https://www.artdoc.photo/online-exhibition/dada-and-democracy |
Kon Markogiannis is an experimental photographer, collage artist, existential poet, philosophical essayist, independent researcher and spiritual seeker with an interest in gnostic themes such as death, mortality, the human condition, the exploration of the psyche and the evolution of consciousness.
Featured in the "Dada and Democracy" exhibition organized by Artdoc magazine. https://www.artdoc.photo/online-exhibition/dada-and-democracy |
A haiku poem influenced by Buddhist teachings featured in "Haiku in Action" (Nick Virgillio Writers Association). https://www.nickvirgiliohaiku.org/ https://www.facebook.com/87583122771/photos/pcb.10158279470042772/10158279469967772/?type=3&theater |
The Covid Files [EN] Created during the
Covid-19 pandemic-lockdown the photo collages of Konstantinos Markogiannis are
neither exactly a translation of the ongoing health crisis, nor a set of
documenting machines, in any conventional point of view: they continuously
oscillate, always operating in the in-between, reflecting the transformative operations of the collective
psyche. Existing
in a state of spatial anguish and collapsed boundaries, these portraits of
spectral entities merge subject and space: most of their parts are eerily
vectored into a darkened, multi-layered facade and express the kind
of invasive spatiality that is occasionally observed in the art of the mentally unstable. Multifaceted
physiognomies appear to function as nostalgic machines, in a manner of a
mechanical bricolage, where
specific components are chosen -
out of a jumble of seemingly leftover and dismantled parts - in order to perform a new,
specific tracing or translating task, regardless of their initial use and the
task they were meant to perform. Thus, the artist becomes a mythmaker of narratives
which
deliver an uncanny tension, both visual and psychological
- a
true expression of the ongoing public health crisis.
The Covid Files [GR] Τα φωτογραφικά κολλάζ του Κωνσταντίνου Μαρκογιάννη, που
δημιουργήθηκαν κατά τη διάρκεια του lockdown της πανδημίας του Covid-19, δεν αποτελούν
ακριβώς την πιστή μετάφραση μιας συνεχιζόμενης υγειονομικής κρίσης, ούτε ένα
σύνολο συμβατικών μηχανισμών καταγραφής και τεκμηρίωσης: κυμαίνονται και
λειτουργούν διαρκώς σε μία ενδιάμεση κατάσταση που αντανακλά τις μετασχηματιστικές
λειτουργίες του συλλογικού ψυχισμού. Τα απόκοσμα αυτά πορτραίτα υφίστανται σε μία κατάσταση
τραυματικής χωρικής αγωνίας και μέσα σε όρια που καταρρέουν, συγχωνεύοντας το
υποκείμενο και τον εκάστοτε χώρο του: τα περισσότερα από τα θραύσματά τους συνυπάρχουν
σε ένα σκοτεινό, πολυεπίπεδο προσωπείο εκφράζοντας ένα είδος επεμβατικής διαδικασίας
που παρατηρείται κάποιες φορές σε καλλιτεχνικά έργα ανθρώπων με ψυχική
αστάθεια. Οι πολύπλευρες αυτές φυσιογνωμίες φαίνεται να λειτουργούν
ως νοσταλγικές μηχανές, ως μία μορφή μηχανικού bricolage: μέσα από ένα
μείγμα υπολειμμάτων και αποσυναρμολογημένων μερών, επιλέγονται συγκεκριμένα
εξαρτήματα προκειμένου να εκτελέσουν έναν νέο, συγκεκριμένο χειρισμό εντοπισμού
και μετάφρασης, ανεξαρτήτως της αρχικής τους χρησιμότητας και σκοπού. Έτσι, ο καλλιτέχνης
μετατρέπεται σε μυθοπλάστη αφηγημάτων δημιουργώντας μια αφύσικη οπτική και
ψυχολογική ένταση, η οποία αποτελεί την πραγματική έκφραση της τρέχουσας
υγειονομικής κρίσης του Covid-19.
Text by Spyridon Kaprinis / Κείμενο του Σπυρίδων Καπρίνη
http://www.crisiology.org/the-covid-files-en/ (English) http://www.crisiology.org/el/the-covid-files-gr/ (Greek) |
Escape from Reality by Kon Markogiannis featured in The Great Escape exhibition hosted by Float magazine. https://www.floatmagazine.us/online-exhibitions/exhibitions/the-great-escape |
Artwork by Konstantinos Markogiannis featured in the Covid-19 Archive (MOMus-Anthropause). https://res.momus.gr/el/anthropause-gr More info here: https://cosmopoliti.com/episkepsi-tis-proedroy-tis-dimokratias-stis-ektheseis-toy-momus/ |
Καθημερινές εικόνες από τον πρωτοφανή εγκλεισμό των περασμένων μηνών συνθέτουν τη νέα έκθεση του MOMus - Μουσείου Φωτογραφίας Θεσσαλονίκης (20 Οκτωβρίου 2020-31 Ιανουαρίου 2021).
Ο
όρος "ανθρωποπαύση" γεννήθηκε στην καραντίνα και περιγράφει το φαινόμενο
της σχεδόν πλήρους παύσης της ανθρώπινης δραστηριότητας και της
ευεργετικής επίδρασης που αυτή είχε στα οικοσυστήματα του πλανήτη.
Όπως εξηγεί στο παρακάτω video ο επιμελητής του μουσείου, κ. Ηρακλής Παπαϊωάννου, η έκθεση αυτή αποτελεί μία απόπειρα του MOMus να ανταποκριθεί σε ένα από τα μεγάλα και φλέγοντα ζητήματα της εποχής μας.
https://www.makthes.gr/anthropause-101-thessalonikeis-fotografizoyn-tin-karantina-vinteo-fot-321471
In response to the extraordinary
changes occurring in 2020 the Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP)
partnered with the Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) in San Diego to
acknowledge the importance of photography and art in capturing historic world
events. The exhibition both portrays the
significant changes that COVID-19 has wrought on the worldwide fabric of
society, and addresses the changing consciousness around systemic racism and
police brutality worldwide. https://lacphoto.org/the-connected-world-2020-virtual-gallery/ |
Participating with one photo collage in the "Together, so Far so
Close" exhibition (MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts, 20 October – 4 November
2020).
https://www.momus.gr/exhibition/twc_sfsc https://www.facebook.com/MOMusExperimental/photos/a.752226354885125/3367116056729462/?type=3&theater https://www.typosthes.gr/politismos/231032_thessaloniki-dyo-nees-ektheseis-toy-momus-sto-limani
|
Participating
with two photo collages and one screen projection in the "Anthropause"
exhibition (MOMus -Thessaloniki
Museum of Photography, 20 October-31 January 2020). https://www.momus.gr/exhibition/anthropause https://www.facebook.com/MOMusPhotography/photos/a.210384672334790/3540570675982823/?type=3&theater https://www.typosthes.gr/politismos/231032_thessaloniki-dyo-nees-ektheseis-toy-momus-sto-limani https://www.makthes.gr/anthropause-101-thessalonikeis-fotografizoyn-tin-karantina-vinteo-fot-321471 |
Antibodies featured in
The Eye of Photography (L'Oeil de la Photographie). https://loeildelaphotographie.com/en/kon-markogiannis-vb/ |
Participating with three photo collages and three haiku poems in the #pandeMY -future under construction exhibition
which is part of Fotolimo cross-border photography & visual arts festival (Portbou-Cerbère
/ French-Catalan border, 25th - 27th September 2020). The main focus of the
festival is the issue of borders in the current context of global crisis.https://fotolimo.com/en/start/https://www.instagram.com/p/CCilPsojbxH/ |
“The body is the instrument of our hold on the world.”
(Simone de
Beauvoir, The Second Sex)
Antibodies is a
series of surreal photo collages created by using images from
fashion, lifestyle and erotic magazines. Utilizing techniques such
as fragmentation, obliteration, overlapping and juxtaposition the artwork
deconstructs the human body and challenges established notions of beauty,
identity and sexuality. Antibodies also tackles issues
such as the supposed indexicality and "truthfulness" of the
photographic medium and raises questions regarding ownership, copyright, and
the appropriation and (ab)use of imagery. In this overtly hyper-technological,
post-photographic age we live in the boundaries between truth and illusion are
questionable. Images can be downloaded, appropriated and manipulated to a point
where authorship is lost and the viewer is not sure what he or she is looking
at. Ultimately the work is a
critique of the unhealthy obsession with bodily looks and a reaction against
our constant bombardment with oversexualized, quasi-pornographic images by the
media and the entertainment industry. It seems as if moral and aesthetic
standards have lost their significance in an era of consumerist numbness,
artificial pleasure, objectification and instant gratification.
Part 1: https://www.konmark.com/gallery_765849.html
Part 2: https://www.konmark.com/gallery_761868.html |
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
(Jiddu Krishnamurti)
Images by Kon Markogiannis and text by Spyridon Kaprinis.
https://www.konmark.com/gallery_744207.html
http://www.crisiology.org/el/socialunrest/
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157533521311944&set=a.10151899182841944&type=3&theater
“The global articulation of urban social movements
that flourished in the wake of the financial crisis and the ensuing austerity
measures constitute one of the defining features of what you consider to be new
forms of urban activism.” [01]
-Joana Mayer in conversation with Margit Mayer
Social Unrest is a visual study that consists of photographs that act as an
oscilloscope of contemporary societal developments. Today's pessimistic reality
is mirrored in blurred, black and white palimpsests created by urban wall
posters. Dark human figures, insurrectional texts, black flags and crosses
create a wallpaper of existential anxiety and underlying social unrest.
The almost kaleidoscopic visual density of the posters reflects the various
contrasting psychogeographical elements of a city that must be kept in constant
vigilance prepared for the next protest or uprising. Torn and wrinkled, once
crisp and clean, these posters are signs of a people's transition from a state
of hope and optimism to a murky atmosphere
of despair and social tumult.
Through the images of this visual study one can
distinguish a substantial "nostalgia for what has been lost", as well
as a basic need for "building a different kind of urban experience"
[02]. If someone compares the superficiality of today's postmodern capitalist
way of life with the "visual assault" these street posters seem to
unleash, they will immediately realize that this is what the photographer
wishes to achieve: a "visual incision" in our collective unconscious.
References:
01. “Cities in the making: social movements, neoliberal urbanism and critical practices.” A conversation with Margit Mayer [2015]. https://lisbonconsortium.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/margit-mayer_cities-in-the-making.pdf
02. Harvey, D.“ The Right To The City.”
https://davidharvey.org/media/righttothecity.pdf
‘In order to know virtue, we must first acquaint ourselves with vice.’
-Marquis de Sade
porno_sublime is a visual comment on the nature of sexuality and the human
condition at large. This work was as an attempt to “sublimate” animal
instincts: through artistic expression carnal desires can be “purified” and
transformed into vehicles of redemption and spiritual catharsis.
https://www.konmark.com/gallery_667582.html