In yesterday's post we looked at a couple of accessories from the classic male wardrobe to explore themes such as human rights and discrimination in a project that could almost be considered as "archaeological" for its main subject and for the research involved.
Let's continue these threads moving from further examples seen at the Cyprus Pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition, in Venice (located in the oldest part of Palazzo Malipiero, dating back to the 11th century).
Curated by Omar Kholeif, the pavilion features a selection of pieces and installations by Christodoulos Panayiotou, collectively entitled "Two Days After Forever".
The starting point behind these projects is the invention of archaeology and its role in forging narratives, but the artist tackled these themes through different works inspired by architecture, choreography, text and (indirectly) fashion.
Architecture and archaeology are explored via a series of stones extracted from archaeological sites that Panayiotou turned into sculptures and through handmade terracotta tiles produced in Limassol using the earth from of an excavation site removed by archaeologists (lucky visitors may be able to see at certain times of the day Jean Capelle performing Nureyev's "Death of Nikiya" from La Bayadère on this terracotta floor).
Further references to choreography and dance are embodied by the theatre backdrop for the performance entitled "The Parting Disclosure" hosted in May at the Teatro Goldoni in Venice.
The backdrop is neatly folded in one room, symbolically laid to rest like another abandoned piece in the exhibition, a rolled-up red carpet, both the objects hinting at images of recent archaeology.
In another corner found materials and a single cathode of copper sourced from the Skouriotissa copper mine in the Xeros area of Cyprus form a rather minimalist and improvised temporary fountain (as soon as the water stops running, the fountain goes back to being nothing more but an assemblage of assorted bits and pieces), while pointing towards copper mining as a dominant subject of the archaeological discourse in Cyprus.
Accessories from the male wardrobe come back in this pavilion as symbols: seven pairs of custom-made shoes stand on plinth-like boxes. They may look rather ordinary, but fashion connoisseurs may realise they are made with a rather strange and rigidly synthetic material - fake designer handbags bought on the streets of Venice in early 2015.
Revolving around the fake and original/wearable and unwearable (the pieces will never be worn though fitting session were carried out to produce them) dichotomies, the shoes are a direct development of the "Untitled" project that started in 2013 and that saw Panayiotou transforming the leather handbags gifted to him by important women in his life into custom-made shoes in his own size.
In transforming something, the artist creates a new narrative, but, in the case of the fake designer bags, Panayiotou seems to tell us that you can produce an original work of art from a copied design and a cheap material.
Like the piles of shredded Cypriot banknotes (destroyed after the introduction of the Euro) spilling out of the rooms in the palazzo, the shoes explore not only the transformative potential of art-making, but also issues of authenticity, authorship, production.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Comments