Using art as a vehicle through the SYNTHESIS art installation that is being developed in building I of MITOS, Konstantinos Stratantonakis and KN Team share and openly discuss with the public the concerns of our time that have been the subject of the Group’s CSR and DE&I Initiatives for the last 5 years.
24 ice columns in a linear arrangement on the floor of Building I in a natural temperature environment and free melt flow | Tracks of neon lights in a random arrangement on the roof of Building I in permanent lighting | Reproduction in the space of Building I of the sounds recorded from the detachment of the glaciers at sea: These data relate to the KN Group's initiatives in the field of CSR – the SOCIETY
Transit of OPEN HOUSE visitors through the installation in the layer between the neon rays and the ice at the interface between solid and fluid phases within Building I: This element is part of the KN Group's initiatives focusing on DE&I – the INDIVIDUAL
In the two-day life of the dynamic time-sculpture SYNTHESIS that melted, cracked, toppled, slipped, collapsed and with a slow, imperceptible rhythm, became a fragment of water and a small river that passed into oblivion, the human presence of the visitors of space I of the MITOS buildings was recorded in a time lapse video of the visitors' flow and interaction with a disappearing installation.
Just as the earth in the Anthropocene period appears as a backdrop for human activity and humans seem disconnected from their environment, in a similar way the SYNTHESIS visitor transect was a stage miniature of a similar condition: the icicles that collapsed with a clang or slid away from their 24-hour time line were captured from a distance in all possible frames of mobile phones. The cult of the still of the photographic moment could not accommodate the pace of the slow disappearance of the ice. The beauty of the destruction and the temporality of the intact body was observed from a distance and filmed from many angles. No touch seemed to be needed or to arise. Everyone already believed or knew or imagined, so no further interaction or exploration or examination or proximity seemed necessary. The runoff water made small streams but even these were diligently bypassed, other corridors were found away from the phenomena. The man-made space lights were always programmed there in full and endless radiation. The ice melted itself.
2020 - De-plasticization Initiative: The 24 dynamic sculptures/ice caps, lined up linearly on a time axis as symbols of the 24 hours, leave their solid phase at any moment, as time counts down with the ever-increasing speed of environmental degradation phenomena. The landscape is changing, along with us, by us, with or without us anymore. The speeds are harmonious; will we as a species be able to assimilate and adapt to them; do we want them; do we follow them? Or do we run after them?
2021 - 200 Years of the Greek Revolution Initiative: The neon clouds accumulating on the roof represent the arrival of modern materials, technologies, speeds and possibilities over the last 200 years in Greece and the world. How many new architectural and technological materials and meta-materials are radiating around us and what structures and rhythms do they obey? How does the anthropogenic interact with the physical and what happens under our feet while we light the way to space from above?
2022 – Neurodiversity Initiative: For those of us lucky enough to live in some corners of the planet where for some years there has been Peace, the opportunity and time is given to study and understand the finer nuances of human cognition. Thinking, vocabulary, educating and opening workplaces and schools to difficult social issues, working on ignorance and fear of difference, neurodiversity or physical issues leaves space and time for a better future.
2023 - Digital Wellbeing Initiative: How many have we become and how alone do we feel? How much are our lives intertwined with the screen and what are healthy digital habits? How do we cultivate physical and mental wellbeing in a digital world? What is connection anymore; who are we connected to and with whom?
2024 - Cycle A: Resisting the modern rite of scrolling, KN Team thought this year it would be interesting to revisit all the previous concepts that make up for us a Cycle A' of initiatives. To dwell within us they need time for reflection and experiential application maturing and evolving as we mature and evolve as a Team.
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Concept Design: Konstantinos Stratantonakis.
Exhibition text curator and Photography: Mania Benissi
