Reality Check Chapter II: Inner Sanctum

The installation of Dimitra Skandali ..any courage is a fear.. –a title that comes from a poem by E.E. Cummings (1894-1962)– is an immersive environment surveying the oppositions between the imbalances of the outside world and the potential tranquility that can be achieved through esoteric processes. War, conflict and environmental degradation are some of today’s traits that the artist wishes to expel from our life. Employing materials that channel undisturbed peacefulness and serenity, she proposes a new space for rumination and equilibrium. This is her own domain that she gracefully shares and invites us to be a part of and re-construct a new – sturdier– inner fortress. Reverberating positive frequencies, Skandali’s work is a poetic take of our actuality suggestive of the universality of humanity and the re-establishment of our higher self.

Christina Anid’s Litany of Desires is an homage to the human soul and its need to find peace and redemption. The room is taken over by two sculptures that are both made of innumerable ex-voto offerings, representations of fulfilment of a vow or gratitude towards God or a saint in Christian tradition. Infused by a robust sense of prayer, supplication and meditation, the works on view are vessels of energy and hope. At the same time, the reflective and transformative power of Anid’s writing that covers the wall surfaces, conjures aspects of spiritualism and mysticism. It is an articulation of the power of faith as well as the power of doubt constantly antagonising each other and relentlessly challenging our mind. A heart and a flying child are the answers to this battle and declarations of belief and optimism. They emerge as individual ex-votos themselves promising benevolence, humility, tenderness and kindness. This was my personal favourite.

The work of Iakovos Volkov initiates an other-worldly environment –a dark room– where viewers are confronted by a verbal fragment of –what is considered to be– the greatest monologue in science fiction history. All these moments will be lost in time like clouds in heaven is an extract from the final words of an android’s swan song about to be terminated in the film Blade Runner (1981). The artist depicts this statement in bright colours juxtaposed against a background of as close to Vantablack (the blackest manmade black known to us) as possible. Toying with opposing emotional conditions, Volkov traces his own redemption through the darkest of paths. The implying toxicity of his materials is eliminated by a surfacing optimism that gradually spreads its light across all borders of shadowland, making us all part of his philosophical quest.

id by Elia Iliadi is a site-specific durational performance that begins with the start of the exhibition and ends with its conclusion as it is intimately related and dependent on its audience. Each viewer is free to enter the artist’s sacred space, sit in front of her and answer laconically a secret question. The answer is written anonymously on a piece of paper and, later, it is taken by her assistants, who re-produce it in latex at a dedicated lab next door. All answers are transformed into leather-like inscriptions which are then suspended from the ceiling above the artist, gradually populating the room on a day-to-day basis. With references to initiation practices involving ancient mysteries but also to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, Iliadi’s interactive work concentrates on the id, the instinctual and primitive section of the mind that hides sexual and aggressive drives as well as concealed memories. Viewers are abruptly prompted to anonymously express their deepest and most inner self, temporarily overlooking the two other agents that altogether define and stabilise the mental status and the behaviour of a person; the ego and the super ego. Iliadi’s room will progressively turn into an extraordinary thinktank of desires and unconscious pleasures.

Vana Ntatsouli’s it’s not what you think, attests to the existential reverie of a fictional character, whose personal story unfolds notions of emotional equilibrium. A gentle giant sits calmly in lotus position in one of the corners of the room with a balmy smile in his face. His posture indicates a meditational state, which has eventually helped him reach a state of tranquility. His crown –a symbol of achievement and fulfilment for the artist– lies on the floor as a precious trophy, which he is ready to offer as a gesture of kindness and gratitude. Pieces of fabric on the floor are all part of his and, in combination with his embroidered biographical narration, a reminder of where he comes from and what he is truly made of. Ntatsouli’s work is an open invitation to accept ourselves the way we are and search for the endless possibilities of self-development and advancement. It is a mental process of self-reflection and mindfulness, as fundamental elements of human thinking; a truthful example of a long-achieved victory.

Nadia Skordopoulou’s Your soul that never wears, Your spirit that never tears is an installation moving between internal and external space, making a place for contemplation. It is inspired by the aeroponic technique that helps plants grow in the air without the use of soil in a controlled environment. The total isolation of plants from the soil promotes a healthier and quicker disease and pest free growth. However, Skordopoulou, brings the earth into her room and separates it from her plants that are all suspended from above. She underlines this disconnection by creating a new condition of living and a new way of understanding our cosmos. Symbols of virility and fertility in ancient Greece, orchids are the protagonists of the artist’s narrative. She re-imagines her own sanctuary, where votives are transfigured into plants and are sent to the sky like prayers. A soundscape is united with the physical presence of all earthly elements creating a sublime ambience that takes us to an uplifting and joyful state.