KONMARK

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Friday, February 9, 2024

"Η παγκόσμια διάρθρωση των αστικών κοινωνικών κινημάτων τα οποία άνθισαν μετά την οικονομική κρίση και τα επακόλουθα μέτρα λιτότητας αποτελούν ένα από τα καθοριστικά χαρακτηριστικά αυτού που θεωρείται

ως νέα μορφή αστικού ακτιβισμού". [01]

-Joana Mayer, σε συζήτηση με την Margit Mayer

Η εικαστική εργασία Social Unrest /Κοινωνική Αναταραχή αποτελείται από φωτογραφίες οι οποίες λειτουργούν ως παλμογράφος των σύγχρονων κοινωνικών εξελίξεων. Η σημερινή απαισιόδοξη πραγματικότητα καθρεφτίζεται σε θολά, ασπρόμαυρα παλίμψηστα τα οποία δημιουργούνται από αφίσες αστικών τοίχων. Σκοτεινές ανθρώπινες μορφές, επαναστατικά κείμενα, μαύρες σημαίες και σταυροί δημιουργούν μια ταπετσαρία υπαρξιακού άγχους και υποβόσκουσας κοινωνικής αναταραχής.

Η σχεδόν καλειδοσκοπική οπτική πυκνότητα των αφισών αντικατοπτρίζει τα διάφορα αντιπαραβαλλόμενα ψυχογεωγραφικά στοιχεία μιας πόλης η οποία οφείλει να διατηρείται σε συνεχή επαγρύπνηση και να είναι προετοιμασμένη για την επόμενη εκδήλωση διαμαρτυρίας ή λαϊκή εξέγερση. Σκισμένες και τσαλακωμένες, πάλαι ποτέ καθαρές και ευκρινείς, οι αφίσες αυτές αποτελούν ενδείξεις της μετάβασης ενός λαού από μια κατάσταση ελπίδας και αισιοδοξίας σε μια νεφελώδη ατμόσφαιρα απελπισίας και κοινωνικού αναβρασμού.

Μέσα από τις εικόνες αυτής της εικαστικής εργασίας μπορεί κανείς να διακρίνει μια ουσιαστική "νοσταλγία για όσα έχουν χαθεί", καθώς και μια πηγαία ανάγκη για "την κατασκευή ενός διαφορετικού είδους αστικής εμπειρίας" [02]. Αν συγκρίνει κανείς την επιπολαιότητα του σημερινού μεταμοντέρνου καπιταλιστικού τρόπου ζωής με την "εικαστική επίθεση" που οι αφίσες του δρόμου μοιάζουν να εξαπολύουν θα καταλάβει αμέσως πως αυτό επιθυμεί να πετύχει κι ο φωτογράφος: μια "εικαστική τομή" στο συλλογικό μας ασυνείδητο.

Κείμενο: Σπυρίδων Καπρίνης

Φωτογραφίες: Κωνσταντίνος Μαρκογιάννης

Βιβλιογραφικές αναφορές:

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

“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.

Text: Spyridon Kaprinis

Photos: Konstantinos Markogiannis

References:

02. Harvey, D.“ The Right To The City.”

https://davidharvey.org/media/righttothecity.pdf

Thursday, February 8, 2024

Grafik (Work In Progress)

We must revolutionize our optical perception.

We must remove the veil from our eyes.

(Alexander Rodchenko)

Grafik is a series of collages which deal with themes such as mortality, fragility, impermanence, the human condition, the exploration of the body and psyche, the evolution of man, consciousness and the cosmos. The work is mainly informed and inspired by dadaist and constructivist posters-graphic design and particularly artists such as El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko and Gustav Klutsis.

Pictures from medical and scientific books, bits and pieces of newspaper, calendar pages and other discarded ephemera take on new life by being combined, juxtaposed and superimposed; through playful improvisation and experimentation they form mysterious alliances proving that even the (seemingly) worthless can have value and meaning. Ultimately, these collages are a way to make sense of our complex, fragmented world and an attempt to impose order and unity on life's chaos.

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

HAIGA (WORK IN PROGRESS)

KONMARK: VISUAL POETRY

Monday, February 5, 2024

Provoke (work in progress)

"For me cities are enormous bodies of people's desires."

-Daido Moriyama

Provoke is a photographic interpretation of the fragmentary nature of modern reality and a commentary on our obsession with the body, sex and materiality in general.

I chose to use high contrast, gritty and out of focus black and white photographs in order to convey the chaos of everyday existence and create an imaginal domain which gravitates between the objective and the subjective, the illusory and the real. The combination of photographs with other images (such as illustrations of butterflies, snakes and bones) was an attempt to create visual allegories and explore archetypal themes such as sin, redemption, death and rebirth.

The work ultimately serves as a metaphor for dark emotions and psychological states (isolation, fear, inner turmoil, subconscious desire etc). My harsh, crude depictions of the human body and the urban environment occupy an uncertain and uncomfortable territory that lingers between sensual pleasure and mental nightmare.

Ghosts_Dreams_Memories (work in progress)

“Those who look outside, dream. Those who look inside, awaken”.

-C.G. Jung

Ghosts_ Dreams_Memories is an ongoing series of surreal photomontages which explore the world of the unconscious mind and psychic phenomena.

On a conceptual level crucial for the development of the work were the theories of psychologist Carl Gustav Jung whose research involved the fields of religion, alchemy, astrology, philosophy, mythology and dreams. According to Jung reality is more complex than what is perceived by the physical senses or revealed by mainstream science -he believed we all possess psychic faculties, albeit usually in undeveloped form.

On an aesthetic level the work was inspired by photographic artists such as Clarence John Laughlin and Jerry Uelsmann whose experimental and multi-layered work questions photographic "truth" and representation. The work was also influenced by "spirit" photographs of the 1800's-1900's which supposedly depict paranormal phenomena such as human auras, levitating bodies, ghostly manifestations, disembodied entities etc.

Links:

http://konmarkimageswords.tumblr.com/post/152140601611/we-often-dream-about-people-from-whom-we-receive

http://konmarkimageswords.tumblr.com/post/151005416966/cg-jung-termed-the-period-between-1912-and-1918

http://konmarkimageswords.tumblr.com/post/155167008726/self-taught-photographer-clarence-john-laughlin

http://konmarkimageswords.tumblr.com/post/155221515516/the-surreal-spiritual-and-thought-provoking

http://konmarkimageswords.tumblr.com/post/159260635196/william-hope-1863-1933-was-one-of-the

http://konmarkimageswords.tumblr.com/post/153122569656/in-the-early-days-of-photography-many-believed

Konbination (work in progress)

Sunday, February 4, 2024

Constructed Narratives, Imagined Realities

Art-making is not about telling the truth but making the truth felt.

(Christian Boltanski)

Constructed Narratives, Imagined Realities is a series of manipulated vintage photographs, found photographs/texts and personal photographs. This work tackles universal themes such as love, family, war, death and issues such as time, memory, myth and history.

Due to the treatment of the images and their combination with obscure handwritten text the viewer is not quite sure what he/she is looking at. One could perhaps imagine that these are pages from a photo-album, a personal journal, a historical archive or an illustrated book. The boundaries between truth and fiction are deliberately blurred allowing the beholder to give birth to various meanings and associations.

For this project the value of the image as artistic artefact and creative construct is more important than the authorship of the writings and the "truthfulness" of the photographs. The ambiguous relationship between picture and text creates an uncertain environment which challenges the spectator's emotional, intellectual and imaginative faculties.