What is cosmos / τι είναι κόσμος
- under construction -
Table of Contents:
| Conceptual Overview
| Interactivity
Experiments with Interactivity in Visual Art.
| Paper
Technical Features and Choices
| Closing Remarks
| Bibliography
Portfolio and short CV of Chloe Pare-Anastasiadou
what is cosmos | Conceptual Overview
From painting to virtual reality, superstition to science, myths to missions, fantasies to space colonies , cosmos has always been a subject of questions and researches. “What is cosmos” is an interactive art installation which invites the visitors to answer or to reflect on that question. Initially inspired from the cosmic egg and the presence of this archetypal myth in the narrations of various multicultural cosmological theories, "what is cosmos" is a platform that collects perspectives. The guests of the installation are proposed to get a single cutout, to sit in the purposely curated space and shape the offered paper object, contributing to the visual result with their own cosmological view, question or statement. The piece "what is cosmos" does not declare a definition of Cosmos, but starting from the available paper objects, it attempts to gather the cosmological approaches of a non-homogeneous audience. Inspired by recent cosmological theories , the installation starts from a symbolic unit. The original object is a perforated single sheet, which has the potential to be used literally and metaphorically, substituting in a question or in a trigger for thought and action. The visual result can be extended infinitely through the active contribution of visitors / participants.
The initial art product / trigger is a paper object that is designedly characterized by circularity and repetition. These elements appear in countless representations of the universe in a variety of fields of knowledge such as the Buddhist mandalas or the pre-modern scientific heliocentrism of Copernicus . In addition, reflecting the uncertainty of contemporary cosmologies about the shape of the universe , the originally two-dimensional object, can practically evolve into any shape. Matter, dark matter and dark energy , are present and potentially interpreted by the attendants to space and negative space.
The cutout "what is cosmos" is reproduced 506 times, following a clear logic derived from Chloe Pare-Anastasiadou's earlier artistic practice, and specifically in the "(5x8x12 + 14) x 2 + 12 = 1000 glitter grains" project. This number should be sufficient for the duration of the open format workshop held at the ASFA’s graduate exhibition in June 2019 and it embraces the possibility of unlimited reuse / transformation of material.
In the work of Chloe Pare-Anastasiadou, the subject, in this case Cosmology, is an excuse to play and activate tangibility and act. The cutouts are realized with the craft of papercutting, applied with laser technology. In a fundamentally designed space, directed workshops are happening, in which groups and/or individuals are called to express themselves through original objects with conscious experiments and subconscious wandering. Communities are encouraged to participate in a planned framework of verbal or non-communication, through artistic creation, working freely on the basis of the given paper piece.
| Interactivity
Visual Arts have so far changed many forms that cannot be defined with clear boundaries. Today, each artist or movement decides on the conceptual and aesthetic values as well as the technical characteristics of their work. The philosophy of post-contemporary art (PoCo) is distinguished by an ethos, which considers that the aesthetic experience is universal for mankind and that it itself can inspire empathy and transformation. The work "what is cosmos," a figment of its time, focuses on the axioms of transformation through interactivity, not aiming at an educational or psychoanalytic approach. The call for participatory experience essentially affects the ones involved. The artwork "what is cosmos" consists of elements that the participant is invited to change by contributing to non-verbal communication. Those implicated are free to interact for as long as they wish by responding to the question in each and every way, and using their spatial-temporal skills, either accurately or abstractly. The questions that arise from this research are mainly expressed through visual choices. In what ways does design, curation, language and material contribute to the "cosmos" experience? Which type of instructions can be specific enough to give an action frame or sufficiently abstract to trigger one’s imagination? Language is the most important means of putting this question into the specific work, and the experience of exploring Eastern linguistic elements is crucial. Western languages, often act as concrete factors and have quite a guiding potential. However, they can be used freely, poetically and be inspired from the abstraction of Asian languages. How is this achieved through design? Graphically, in “what is cosmos”, the written language, minimized to the maximum, becomes a structural element in space and poetic time. Alongside the use of ornamentality, proposes its own degradation, beauty and metamorphosis; proposes an unmeasurable, non-objective time of correlations, internal interactions, matches, resets, extracts, a time released by successive sequences and coordinates. Materiality and multiplicity highlight these choices.
Experiments with Interactivity in Visual Art
At this point it is worth noting that interactivity is sought as a question on the art object, its evolution, its transformation into action and the creation of time. The approaches to interactivity that have been studied and are relevant to this research are individual invitation and group interaction.
A. Individual Invitation
In this case, the author invites a particular person to act on the art object, without social predesigned context. Example: In May 2017, "The Platonic Game of Life" was given to 3 people with different characters together with the instructions "This is a work entitled "The Platonic Game of Life". You can do whatever you want in whatever time you want and return it to me". The three reactions observed were: - Person A never returned it, - Person B commented and deciphered verbally on the spot, - Person C treated it with great enthusiasm saying "it is nice to have freedom at a time when everything is so specific" and he returned it with two-dimensional or micro-three-dimensional tangible treatments.
The conclusions of the reactions could be analyzed in detail on the basis of the characteristics of the individuals. Nonetheless, this research involves the collection of any reaction as a non-analytical sociological observation and delimits which features of the art object can encourage originality in specific contexts. Works that were dealt with by individual personal invitations: "The Platonic Game of Life", "philosophy letters".
B. Group Interaction
B.1. through a guided workshop
Interaction through a guided workshop means that a social group of a certain number of individuals has been selected to interact with the art piece in a specific space and time and with specific instructions. Example: The multiples of the book "KOLYVA" were presented as an interactive installation at KHB University in Berlin on January 8th, 2018. The international participants were explained what Kolyva are and were given 10 minutes to create on the given art book. Then, Kolyva were eaten and a discussion about death was raised, its representations, each person’s interaction with the art book, and the connotation of it to death. In the end, everyone placed something on the table from where everything started.
With the appropriate design, this particular form of interaction can take on an educational character, but this differs from an artistic experience. The instructor's contribution is of major importance. Works in the form of a guided workshop in chronological order: "The Chessboard I", "Der erste Tag", "Kolyva", "Plani" I and II, "LIFE DRAWINGS".
B 2. through an art installation open to freewill participation
In this case, attendance is achieved through the curation of the site and the visual autonomy of the project. Example: "The Platonic Game of Life" was presented as an interactive installation at the KHB University in July 2017. Participation was high and social observations varied. This was encouraged by the use of specific furniture and the existence of an instructor in space.
In each case, a variety of observations were made about what functions and what not, and the way they can serve to an artistic question. "What is cosmos" is a question that will be supported by an installation open to freewill participation, given the nature of the question, and the context in which it is exposed: a 7-day exhibition.
| Paper
Paper, a technological product of universal and diachronic importance, is East Asia's generous offer to humanity. In the cradle of his invention, but also everywhere it has spread throughout its two-thousand-year history, it has been connected with phases of transition to literate societies, so that after the spread of his use, the changes in spiritual production have become visible. The delicacy of fine paper is often surprising: it is evocative, sensual, unlike the industrial paper with which we come into contact with everyday life. Two, quite extinct philosophies exist: according to one, a sheet of paper is simply a solid physical object awaiting a particular use; according to the other, a sheet paper is a natural, interactive substance that reflects every level of existence. It could be argued that the two positions represent the Western (intellectual) and Eastern (spiritual) polarities. Of course, paper should perform perfectly in application that it has been designed for, but the best sheets will also awaken other responses. Interactivity with paper occurs most often when artists are creatively involved in finding solutions. The exploration of different qualities or unknown sheets opens up new ways of thinking and working, from both conceptual and technical standpoints. Another way in which paper can offer inspiration, for instance, is when one is exposed to unfamiliar intercultural traditions, which demonstrate different aspects and uses. In "what is cosmos," the paper highlights its accessible and sophisticated aspects, the sense of tangibility and the value of aesthetics in the communication of Visual Arts. The choice of paper emphasizes the literal or metaphorical dimensions inherent in it.
Technical Features and Choices in “what is cosmos”
"What is cosmos" was created from 95 sheets of "curious metallic galvanized" paper weighing 120 g/m² and measuring 70x100 cm. The papers were produced by Arjowiggins Creative Papers in England and supplied by the Distributor "Perrakis Papers" in Greece.
After acquisition, the sheets of paper were cut by an electric cutter in the A Printmaking Lab of ASFA, 85 in dimensions 33x33 cm (A) and 10 in dimensions 11x11 cm (B). The papers (A) were folded two consecutive times (one horizontal and one vertical) and (B) were left as they were. On all papers the design was cut with a 40 Watt laser machine at the community space Hackerspace.gr in Athens. Design (A) was cut with a power of 15% and a speed of 15 mm/s and each cutting lasted ~ 7 minutes. Design (B) was cut at a power of 9% and a speed of 20 mm/s, and each cut comprising 4 sheets of paper lasted ~ 3 minutes.
The final objects are 506 and each (B) inserts in one (A).
The design consists of repeating the same shape ( ) in different sizes. The final result in (A) is such that it can be torn, folded and effectively bonded. The weight and plasticity of the paper allow the construction of three-dimensional objects and not only. The (B) contains the title, which is also the question that arises in the installation, the date and signature of the artist. Any defects that resulted from the laser cutting process have been left as they are.
what is cosmos | Closing Remarks
"What is cosmos" project is an artistic research in sculptural applications and social forms. It is not presented as an object but as a whole consisting of the “what is cosmos” object itself, its design process, the present text as an attempt to verbalize the research, and the works that have co-shaped the current choices. "What is cosmos" is essentially an individual research about the imaged representations of scientific theories and folk traditions, which finally is chosen not to be answered but to ask new questions about interactivity and the beauty of materiality. This thesis sets out the theoretical and visual foundations for a more extensive research into the tradition and modern technology of papermaking and paper use, as well as the contribution that they can make to the Visual Arts and interactivity.
| Bibliography
Printed Bibliography
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Silvie Turner (1991). Which paper? : a review of fine papers for artists, craftspeople and designers. London: estamp.
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