Bird watching, 2023, video, sound, 07:40 min (excerpt)
The film aspires to offer a reflection on the relationship between people, animals and the environment in the context of militaristic and property rights mindsets of ongoing processes of colonisation and extinction.
The film aspires to offer a reflection on the relationship between people, animals and the environment in the context of militaristic and property rights mindsets of ongoing processes of colonisation and extinction.
Awkward stones, 4k video with audio, 15.24 min. 2023 (excerpt)
Stelios Kallinikou
Haytham El-Wardany
Peter Eramian
The starting point for the project “awkward stones” is Haytham El-Wardany's poem ‘their names’, which was written on the occasion of the group exhibition Fabrica Hill (2021) at Thkio Ppalies artist-led project space. As interpreted by Stelios and Peter, the poem immerses the reader in notions of time, trauma, reconciliation, understanding, companionship and history by sensing the many faces of our contemporaries, in an attempt to speak the “laborious words”. In the video, we hear the poem in Cypriot dialect while landscapes near and far appear both in ruins and blooming, landscapes covered by the mist of our “criminal harmony”.
Stelios Kallinikou
Haytham El-Wardany
Peter Eramian
The starting point for the project “awkward stones” is Haytham El-Wardany's poem ‘their names’, which was written on the occasion of the group exhibition Fabrica Hill (2021) at Thkio Ppalies artist-led project space. As interpreted by Stelios and Peter, the poem immerses the reader in notions of time, trauma, reconciliation, understanding, companionship and history by sensing the many faces of our contemporaries, in an attempt to speak the “laborious words”. In the video, we hear the poem in Cypriot dialect while landscapes near and far appear both in ruins and blooming, landscapes covered by the mist of our “criminal harmony”.
Bird, 2022, video, sound, loop
The video shows a bird flying repeatedly and pecking at its reflection in the side mirror of a car. The phenomenon of a bird defending its nest against intruders — in this case, its own reflection is known nowadays where human made reflective surfaces and structures cause confusion and disorientation.
The video shows a bird flying repeatedly and pecking at its reflection in the side mirror of a car. The phenomenon of a bird defending its nest against intruders — in this case, its own reflection is known nowadays where human made reflective surfaces and structures cause confusion and disorientation.
Flamingo Theatre, 2019, Video,sound, 13 minutes (excerpt)
The video work “Flamingo Theatre” is a collage of research material from and about the Akrotiri Area. The British Sovereign Base Area of Akrotiri is a space suspended between different and complex narratives. In its landscape, British military facilities intersect a wetland with incredible biodiversity, vitally important for the wider eastern Mediterranean region. On the one hand, thousands of migratory birds use the area as a temporary home; on the other hand, the British military base serves to monitor the flow of political developments in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. The work is inspired by videos found online, showing adolescents participating in a summer school at the military base, creating and uploading the videos for fun. Kallinikou put forward an abstract, poetic film carried by a specially composed sound work by Panagiotis Mina, which is an attempt to encapsulate the complicated nuances and contradictions of the area.
The video work “Flamingo Theatre” is a collage of research material from and about the Akrotiri Area. The British Sovereign Base Area of Akrotiri is a space suspended between different and complex narratives. In its landscape, British military facilities intersect a wetland with incredible biodiversity, vitally important for the wider eastern Mediterranean region. On the one hand, thousands of migratory birds use the area as a temporary home; on the other hand, the British military base serves to monitor the flow of political developments in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. The work is inspired by videos found online, showing adolescents participating in a summer school at the military base, creating and uploading the videos for fun. Kallinikou put forward an abstract, poetic film carried by a specially composed sound work by Panagiotis Mina, which is an attempt to encapsulate the complicated nuances and contradictions of the area.
Howlings, and optical illusions 2020, video, sound, 21 minutes (excerpt)
The video work Howlings and optical illusions is a collage made out of found online footage of Cypriots discovering Ufos. The work functions as a poetic musical play where the witnesses/protagonists of the film balance between the local and the extraterrestrial.
The video work Howlings and optical illusions is a collage made out of found online footage of Cypriots discovering Ufos. The work functions as a poetic musical play where the witnesses/protagonists of the film balance between the local and the extraterrestrial.
Sleep, 2022, video, loop
The video work entitled "sleep" is excavated from my family video archive. My young brother filmed by my father is trying to fall asleep while an adult is disrupting him in an effort to keep him awake. An instance situated in the threshold between dreamworld and reality. An act that insist to repeat itself in a circle between sleep and wakefulness.
The video work entitled "sleep" is excavated from my family video archive. My young brother filmed by my father is trying to fall asleep while an adult is disrupting him in an effort to keep him awake. An instance situated in the threshold between dreamworld and reality. An act that insist to repeat itself in a circle between sleep and wakefulness.
Sparrow, 2019, video, loop
On the screen we see a small sparrow lying on its back and breathing heavily in an infinite loop. The image and the act of breathing are maintained on the screen surface via the connection to electrical power. At the same time, the sparrow is constantly and endlessly in a state of emergency.
Weeper Capuchin, 2022, video, loop
In Why look at animals John Berger, sets forth that “captive animals and we ourselves, their human counterparts, view one another across a narrow abyss of incomprehension.” The work (Weeper Capuchin, 2020/21) negotiate this space between us and the animal, striving to offer a bridge that hovers over the void. The expressive eyes of the Capuchins, as if carrying a prehistoric melancholy, exchange glances with the viewer via a thick glass wall that is invisible in the photographs, much like the photographic lens. Often birds find tragic death on such reflective glass walls because they are not visible to them.
In Why look at animals John Berger, sets forth that “captive animals and we ourselves, their human counterparts, view one another across a narrow abyss of incomprehension.” The work (Weeper Capuchin, 2020/21) negotiate this space between us and the animal, striving to offer a bridge that hovers over the void. The expressive eyes of the Capuchins, as if carrying a prehistoric melancholy, exchange glances with the viewer via a thick glass wall that is invisible in the photographs, much like the photographic lens. Often birds find tragic death on such reflective glass walls because they are not visible to them.