Urbanautica

STEFANOS TSIVOPOULOS. THE PRECARIOUS ARCHIVE

by Steve Bisson

Stefanos, easy question to start. Where are you from?

Stefanos Tsivopoulos (ST): I was born in Prague in 1973 by an Iranian mother and a Greek father. A few years later, we moved to Larissa, a city in Greece, and I was raised there. I have vivid memories from my childhood, especially the warm weather, the sea, scents of food, and a sense of mindlessness. Of course, everything is different now for me. I miss that mindlessness and those senses, in a way too. Too much reality.

There is a point in life when suddenly you start building your vision. Some poets refer to it as the end of innocence. There something sad of course but also exciting in that moment of transformation of our consciousness. I wonder if there was a book as well in your story, or a person, or a moment that you still feel like a significant one.

ST: In my case, there was a culmination of moments, thoughts, books, people, and experiences. But I would say my military service, which was and still is mandatory in Greece, was the end of innocence for me. I was 26 and felt that I lost two years of my life. There was an urge to go out there and do things, do art. That's when I decided to move to Amsterdam.

About education now. You have studied both in Greece and The Netherlands. From Athens to Amsterdam. Tell us more...

ST: I was more interested in theater as a teenager. I was acting in a semi-professional theater group, and many advised me to continue with drama school. But because I was too shy, I ended up studying painting and set design in the Fine Arts Academy in Athens, a rather traditional school. I was always curious and excited to challenge myself with other disciplines, and that's why I moved to Amsterdam and continued my studies at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. I studied video art and installations at the Fine arts department, and I loved it. So much so that I decided to do another two years of postgraduate studies at the Sandberg Institute. The artistic community in the Netherlands and especially in Amsterdam at that time was very supportive of young artists and newcomers in general. Soon after I graduated, I was invited to participate at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten for another two years. Another wonderful institution to study and make friends. Overall, I have enjoyed an extended period of studies in art institutions. Studies in the arts is still a mystifying thing for me. I'm not sure it helps you get where you're supposed to go as an artist faster, but it introduces you to the institution of art. I'm a visiting professor in several academies both in the Netherlands and abroad, and there are more and more students who want to study art. It's incredibly competitive nowadays, which is exciting.

With regards to learning again. I feel like I am studying more now in my forties than before. Or maybe I do have a different consciousness on what I do need to read and search for. As a visual artist, how do you feed or "select" your interest?

ST: I have a different understanding of the quality and importance of the history of art now that I'm in my forties. For example, a lot of the things that we take for granted nowadays constituted groundbreaking moments in the history of art back in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. So I'm in a place to I appreciate and enjoy it all now, more than in my 20s or 30s. A big part of this has to do with my practice that is informed by the history of visual culture. My practice is often inspired by the political context, such as global events, like wars, that informed and produced that culture. However, I'm also equally inspired by myths, science fiction, and allegories.

© Stefanos Tsivopoulos, 'Geometry of Fear' (2012), Single channel video installation, DigiBeta 6 robotic cameras. Video still

© Stefanos Tsivopoulos, 'Geometry of Fear' (2012), Single channel video installation, DigiBeta 6 robotic cameras. Video still

In your works, I see deliberate attention in the use of media, or better, on "how the media uses us". You wrote in an interview (published on the catalogue of the exhibition Stefanos Tsivopoulos History Zero, Greek Pavilion, 55th Venice Biennial 2013) «Mainstream media, mainstream cinema, television, even documentaries, etc., deploy a rather one-dimensional format of storytelling, which is identified easily.» Thus there's a quest of authenticity in how we relate to the fake world. I see the urgency to conceal the modern simulacrum that has made of hast the engine of relationships. There is no renunciation of technology but an attempt to reveal its bones... What's your point of view on the relationship of technology and humans in this dark dawn of the new millennium2020: opportunities and threats.

ST: The "illusion" of what Guy Debord describes in his seminal book, The Society of the Spectacle, has become the norm. There is no entering into the simulacrum; we're in it from the moment we're born. We think based on its terms. We see based on its visuals, we breathe and interact and feel on the wavelength of simulation of reality. There is a lot to be said about it. It doesn't mean that reality is not part of it. Debord prophetically describes the equilibrium between reality and illusion as a ying-yang. There are equal parts of reality and illusion in both opposites. Therefore, reality and illusion one way or another will always become apparent at some point, be it for the people who blow the whistle or because illusion itself will have to correct itself with reality. Let's not forget the source of illusion/representation, is reality itself. But it's all part of the human mind. We're at a time of extreme expansiveness, coming to terms with our mind's limitless capabilities, until the realization that it is our body/nature/environment/Gaia that have the final say.

© Stefanos Tsivopoulos, 'Elefsis (2012)', multimedia installation. Chapter One, single-channel video installation, Arri Alexa 4K transferred on Blu-ray, 16:9, color, stereo sound. Installation view of situ installation in the oldest oil factory in the city of Elefsina. Elefsis is a work of documentary-fiction about the particular history of Elefsina, a heavily industrialized bay, 40 kilometers from the city of Athens. The area back in the 80's hosted almost 60% of Greece's heavy industry, including two oil refineries, two steal factories, cement factories, shipyards, and the state’s industry for arms. Elefsina, in antiquity, was one of the five holy cities of the ancient world. It was here where the Elefsinian Mysteries took, celebrating the cycle of Seasons and the gifts of Earth to the humans. Now the signs of desolation as a result of the financial crisis are more than obvious.

© Stefanos Tsivopoulos, 'Elefsis (2012)', multimedia installation. Video still

© Stefanos Tsivopoulos, 'Elefsis (2012)', multimedia installation. Chapter Two, three-channel video installation, synchronized, Arri Alexa 4K transferred on Blu-ray, 16:9, color & b/w, stereo sound. Duration: 13 minutes. Video still

I wonder about the purpose of art. Inequality in the world is growing, while in cities the number of artists, art schools, galleries, museums and art fairs increases. Do you wonder about the audience? How your work will impact people? How important is the relationship between power and art?

ST: This is a legitimate question. Art has no purpose. But because art is an oxymoron, the fact that has no purpose, makes it so very unique and essential. Whatever purpose it has is added by the participation of the viewer(s). Without an audience, art has no purpose (other than the creator) and no value. The desire to do art and have more art schools, it's a collective need for more communication and participation. It is a sign that the culture of imagination, ideas, and the attraction to the unknown, is still stronger than any other safe jobs offered in this world.

I don't think it's fair to compare the booming of art with the increase in inequality. Usually, artists, as several surveys show, constitute a majority of poorly paid workers. Art is the product of intense labor that, in some cases, is (excessively) rewarded and other times blatantly exploited. Art, in broad terms, constitutes a mirror for an understanding of life and human nature. Of course, in the field of art, you will find extreme areas from commercial art to participatory art. Art is accessible both to the powerful of the world and to the less privileged of the world. Art is not a measuring stick for the inequality that exists in our societies.

Finally the role of history. Such a crucial element in your work, and in the process of archival exhumation. It made me think of Karl Jasper's position. A conception of history that wants to cover the totality of human things, and therefore not put itself at the service of "conjunctural" manipulation, must include the future.
But there can be no future without memory and thus we have it free it from dust, by collective amnesia that feeds on an infinite present. Tell us more about the timing in your process of investigation. How do you shape it? How do you involve and when other experts? Which criteria do you follow in order to build an effective narrative and avoid the impression of an aesthetically pleasing but historically inconsistent collage?

ST: It was the personal journey of discovering my family's past and history that led me to use historical references and documents. Noth the other way around. And I think that is a universal truth. We're interested in history and any history because we have a personal motivation, often linked to a known and sometimes unknown experience. Historians, too, have a personal motivation to study history. In my case, in the search for my own story, I discovered that it was aligned to major global sociopolitical events of the past century. However, I do stand face to face with this global history- a limitless universe that generated millions of narratives - and all I do is to add to this endless stream of stories. My practice doesn't compete with that of a historian, and such comparison is subjective, improper, and false. All my narratives are pure speculation, imagination, and hypotheses. I'm protected in a way by the very institution of art.

© Stafanos Tsivopoulos, Archive Crisis, Shaking Up the Shelves of History. A Visual Essay on Media Archives from the Recent Political Past of Greece' (2015). Paperback, 176 pages, 21 x 28 cm, English. ISBN 978-94-90322-44-1. Page spread

Greece has experienced the crisis of a country crushed by numbers, by blind austerity policies, by imperialist financial nightmares. "Alternative Currencies" is emblematic in this perspective. I read in its statement: «Although the archive barely scratches the surface of the many stories of alternative currencies and exchanges that exist both today and throughout history, it brings these few tales together to inspire a sense of possibility and creativity in the viewer.» This leads me to wonder about arts as windows that open in different fields of possibility, to quote Georges Perec's mindset. Among these possibilities, I still see a chance for a suture between culture and nature. From my studies, I deduced that this split is at the root of many of today's conflicts. What is your point of view on this thesis? How the politics of disenchantment produce the monsters of indifference?

What I see as the main challenge of our societies now and in the near future, is the understanding that we live in an interconnected world. What happens nowadays in one part of the world has immense financial, environmental, societal implications everywhere. The sooner we create an equal, impartial world, the faster we will create a better experience of life for everyone. I don't think art can do much in regards to change the balance of that. I believe art can inspire and provide the blueprint, but the actual change is part of a collective synergy from all depths and sides of society.

© Stefanos Tsivopoulos. Installation 'Alternative Currencies: An Archive and a Manifesto', Greek Currencies, poster for the Cycladic Museum Athens. Detail

© Stefanos Tsivopoulos. Installation 'Alternative Currencies: An Archive and a Manifesto', Greek Pavillion, Venice Biennale, 2013

© Stefanos Tsivopoulos. Installation 'Alternative Currencies: An Archive and a Manifesto', Furniture, curved wooden objects, installation view, Bellas Artes Projects, Manila

© Stefanos Tsivopoulos. Installation 'Alternative Currencies: An Archive and a Manifesto', Vitrine table, printed matter. Installation view MuCEM, Marseille

Could you introduce us to your recent installation at FOTODOK with the exhibition 'Joint Memory - Photographic Fragments?

The exhibition of the 'Precarious Archive' in Fotodok, is the first one of the work in the Netherlands after its successful presentation in Documenta 14 Kassel in 2017. The work combines photographic archives and performance, in an architecture setup up and its goal is to open a participatory dialogue with the public. The dialogue is in reference to history and questions the possibilities that w have to re-write our past in times, in which digital information has overwhelmed our lifestyles and the way we understand reality. So the Precarious Archive offers to the audience and visitors of the exhibition an open and challenging interaction with the performers of the work, and have the opportunity to sharpen their imagination and create new narratives. It's always great to present work in Utrecht and the curator Daria Tuminas as well as the whole team of Fotodok, has done an amazing job in producing the piece and bringing awareness to works of art that challenge the audience.

© Stefanos Tsivopoulos from 'The Precarious Archive'

Can you recommend 3 books in relation to your work, and tell us briefly why.

ST: My work spans a vast territory of interests from politics, to art and cinema. So my references and influences are equally broad. Selectively, I'll refer to Walter Benjamin and his book "The Work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction," as well as the book "Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression" by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. Additional references go to books by two filmmakers, Robert Bresson - "Note's On Cinematography" and Andrei Tarkovsky - "Sculpting in Time," as well as to Gaston Bachelard and his book "The Poetics of Space."

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LINKS
Stefanos Tsivopoulos
FOTODOK Exhibition 'Joint Memory: Photographic Fragments'
Urbanautica Greece

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