Research Catalogue

Design, 1995-96, 2023. Design, 1996-97. Photography, 2010, 2011. Essay, 2015. Collage Text, 2022. The exposition serves as commentary and guide on the place of art, in a gradually environmentally and technologically challenged world. I designed this exposition as a 'teaser' on how architects, who work mainly conceptually, might conduct research from different art and media sources, as well as their own broader artistic work. In this art and design context, I further make a commentary on outgrown conceptions of the foreign, in terms of the so-called "exotic', and the non-foreign,within the political context of contemporary globalisation. Thus, I raise open questions on the impact of architecture and design on global politics. The re-design proposal, inspired by De Stijl, illustrates the modernist historical view that art appears to be regressive, rather than progressive: as soon as a movement or a school becomes established, reaching its culmination, it starts declining. Finally, I have included a graduate school architectural design project in the archaeological site of Eleusis accompanied by new commentary. With essay about experimental film making in the British avant-garde, published in "Architecture and Culture" journal, 2015, which is about the environmental challenges of the urban environment. The reference to the TV show "Alone", a competitive prize show of sole or two-person players, is a reminder that humans can live in the natural environment developing survival tactics already applied by their ancestors. About how to navigate this exposition: Scroll from top to bottom, then from bottom to top, then scroll to the top right, then scroll to the bottom right. For Luke, who I haven't met; with respect and care.

Islington studio flat 4, at 14 Barnsbury Road, London, 2022, privately rented. Interior design and styling, as art installation. Looted, 2024. Investigatory research with artworks, 2023-24. Interactive research blog. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loot_(magazine) My personal belongings were still at the property for two months, after I left on 27 March 2024 and was asked to collect them by 3 or 4 April from Woolwich. After I left, the landlords moved in two or three under aged, who I have never met, so that they pretend to be my daughters. Subsequently, they must have been 'removing' them one by one over the last few months and until October 2024. The company behind 14 Barnsbury Road was deemed illegal through the courts, on 22 April, 2024, shortly after I was forced to leave at the end of March. The maintenance employed many Polish citizens, all dressed in black with black caps, adopting the XRW supporters' fashion code. The household of tenants was mixed and multicultural, but mainly British natives, with the exception of a couple from Hong-Kong, an American citizen, and myself, a naturalised British citizen, originally from Greece. Twenty-one (20+1) digital photographs of the studio, for twenty (20) missing Albanian and of Albanian ethnicity, non-EU immigrants; as well as one (1) missing Italian citizen. Golden Dawn has taken responsibility. The twenty-one persons whose details got stolen were abducted by mainly Golden Dawn and, secondarily, the NRM; they are deceased. My personal details were stolen, too. Was I going to be the twenty-second victim? Twenty-two (22) and twenty-three (23) photographs, including 2 (two) plus one (1) of myself: NOT a missing person, from the 2022-2023 period in the eventually looted, in spring 2024, Islington studio. Golden Dawn were originally pagans, drawing from the ancient Greek mythology and ritualistic practices, including human sacrifice. The visual imagery and the art included in the photographs is influenced by the marketing and advertising industry; I brushed shoulders briefly with students in the creative industries teaching at the Winchester School of Art. I used this an ironic commentary on Golden Dawn trying unsuccessfully to create a brand through propaganda, not political marketing. The art world has been traditionally male dominated. This has not changed dramatically in contemporary art. Female artists have sometimes adopted male attitudes, or personas, to break into the art scene; see Sarah Lucas and Tracey Emin from the YBA movement. I hold the view that art is not gendered, that there is no art for women or so-called women's art. Good art transcends such categories, tapping into more universal experiences. Saying this, I would like to quote Nancy Spero, who doesn't crudely distinguish between male and female art, as follows:"What if the default gender for 'artist' were female? What if, when we looked at a work by a woman, we said to ourselves, "That is art," and when we looked at a work by a man, we automatically identified it in our minds as 'men's art'?" In 1999, I wrote a long essay about the architectural uncanny, which I submitted as my graduation thesis for my first MA in architectural theory. I called it "Space as a 'Bad' Object: A criminal investigation on the notion of space". I got inspiration from detective novels and real-life crime stories. The long essay was about the role of architectural space in crime. It was completely unsupervised: I received a distinction by a Bartlett staff member. I took the digital photographs in conceptual adherence with that essay. I was a postgraduate philosophy student 9/2017-11/2019 at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. In this exposition, I include new photographs from a series of digital photography called "Forensics", taken with my mobile phone, after I was forced to leave the Islington property I was renting, on 27 March 2024. I gave the photography series that name, because it has served the purpose of investigating, recording and tracking a crime, for which architectural space, such as private rentals, has been used. For Chris, my former neighbour, who was suddenly transferred by his employer, from London, where his daughter lives, to somewhere outside of London; and for Lawrence, a second generation immigrant from Nigeria, whose temporary post was prematurely terminated, though he was planning to return to his legal studies. And for Ali. And for Oliver, also my former neighbour. In memory of Howard, also a tenant at Bellview, and former neighbour. To all those who don't just "play" the cultural and racial diversity clause; they don't just rely on identity politics, because the class problem has not been resolved for them, either. Saying this, the UK must still be scoring high on racism, especially for people of African descent. A Nigerian was amongst the Golden Dawn victims of assassination in Greece. I was listening frequently to Massive Attack, a British trip-hop band, when I was living in Islington. Sophie Calle is a French writer and photographer, working on themes of identity, intimacy and everyday existence. Her work is partly inspired by the detective fiction genre.

It Will Be Fine, is engaging in the language of visual representation through the combined mediums of painting, photography and artificial intelligence (Ai) together with images held in the Special Collection picture archive in Bergen. To reflect on the ways in which meaning and memory is constructed and conveyed through visual forms and knowledge systems.

"Rotting Sounds – Embracing the temporal deterioration of digital audio" (https://doi.org/10.55776/AR445) was a multi-year research project that dealt with various aspects pertaining to the deterioration of digital audio. Grill, Schilling and Bovermann understand this decay and the resulting products as a new and welcome aesthetic. This occupation with decay ultimately led to all residual materials being collected during the research period: From yogurt cups and spray cans to hard disks, USB sticks, cables, and clothing. This heap of waste was finally shredded and transformed into paper. Formally and in terms of content, the book explores decay and dissolution, thereby challenging the traditional aesthetic of collecting and preserving. The quantity of paper produced also determined the edition size, which is only 20 copies. Each copy bears the traces of its origin by embedding the cycle of transformation in its fibers. Parallel to the physical book edition, a digitally eroding open access version is available for download via this Research Catalogue exposition. The text by Thomas Grill refers to some of the key points of the Rotting Sounds research project and celebrates the open-ended nature of the experimental research.

“Ocultismo Desapropriado”, é um ensaio que dá continuidade na investigação no ambto do doutorado em Artes Plásticas na Universidade do Porto. O presente ensaio volta seu interesse sobre os fenômenos perceptivos que decorrem desde a ação realizada com a obra "Congá Fora do Tempo, relacionando a experiência do fruidor presente nas duas obras. As instalações atraem o espectador para participar da obra e interagir com ela através da ação. Ambas as obras se relacionam ou são inspiradas em algum ritual de matriz religiosa, mas não repetem ou imitam esses rituais, tão pouco tendem à simulação dos mesmos. São ações de arte com o intuito de provocar o toque em seu íntimo através da brincadeira de fazer pedidos e desejos. Esta publicação compartilha das mesmas referências bibliográficas do ensaio "Congá Fora do Tempo". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘Disappropriated Occultism’ is an essay that continues the research carried out as part of the Doctorate in Fine Arts at the University of Porto. This essay focuses on the perceptual phenomena resulting from the action carried out with the work 'Congá Fora do Tempo', relating the experience of the viewer present in both works. The installations invite the viewer to participate and interact with the work through action. Both works relate to or are inspired by a religious ritual, but they don't repeat or imitate these rituals, nor do they tend to simulate them. They are artistic actions intended to provoke an intimate touch through the play of making requests and wishes. This publication shares the same bibliographical references as the essay ‘Congá Out of Time’.

Este ensaio faz parte da investigação em arte no âmbito do doutorado em artes plásticas na Universidade do Porto, e foi escrito com o intuito de registro de memória e debate sobre a obra artística "Congá Fora do Tempo" com lentes direcionadas ao ponto de vista filosófico e da investigação em arte, tentando compreender como uma instalação acompanhada de uma ação sutil pode proporcionar uma experiência sensível e espiritual ao espectador, à obra e às pessoas à sua volta. A espiritualidade aqui abordada não é a espiritualidade de Merleau-Ponty, em que a espiritualidade é um fenómeno enraizado na corporeidade e na perceção, mas a espiritualidade presente em cada pessoa, de maneiras diferentes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This essay is part of the art research within the scope of the doctorate in fine arts at the University of Porto and was written to record memory and debate on the artistic work “Congá Fora do Tempo” with lenses directed at the philosophical point of view and art research, trying to understand how an installation accompanied by a subtle action can provide a sensitive and spiritual experience to the viewer, the work and the people around it. The spirituality addressed here is not Merleau-Ponty's spirituality, when it is a phenomenon rooted in corporeality and perception, but the spirituality present in each person, in different ways.