Research Catalogue

An overview of Elisabeth Belgrano's artistic / performance / research and teaching in higher arts education 2004-ongoing

Happening, 2016. Participant's empirical research, including improvised full recorded interview with first generation Albanian immigrants to Greece, images, and thematic text. The research was conducted for the workshop, "Logics of Worlds", inspired by Alain Badiou's work and organised by architect Filippos Oraiopoulos, at Athens School of Fine Art (ASFA), Master of Visual Arts (Marios Spiliopoulos, Giorgios Xiropaides), December 2016. Adopting the political approach of Badiou's "L' Organisation Politique" to apply direct intervention for societal problems, including immigration and labour, I used play as a method to facilitate improvised discussions. People share and respond more freely when participating in structured, but playful interactions, such as those a game involves. Albanians speak three languages, Albanian, Italian and, only a few of them, Greek, so I wasn't able to translate parts of the conversation. Avlona is an English now obsolete name for Vlore, an Albanian seaport and former ancient Greek colony Aulon. Albanians came as non-EU refugees in Greece initially in the 1990s, after the fall of communism in their home country. Religion was banned in communist countries. The democratisation of Albania began shortly afterwards, in 1994, when Albanians started protesting for political pluralism in their country. At the beginning of the transition period after communism, Vlore became a port through which smuggling, mainly from Italy, was taking place. Notably, the men I spoke to didn't want to be visualised. Hence, the exposition aims to juxtapose the experimental and the conceptual in the fine arts; and to make the 'invisible' visible. Badiou is also known for his philosophy of metaphysics of the four "truth procedures": Politics, Science, Love and Art. The workshop was slightly interrupted by a performing arts student, who brought a live hen to slaughter in the studio. This can be taken as a metaphor for scapegoating (by symbolically re-assigning the gender of male) Albanian non-EU refugees. For this exposition, I include an essay by Pantelis Boukalas, in Kyriakos Katzourakis, O "Dromos Pros Ti Dysi" (The Way to the West), 2001, as well as Kyriakos Katzourakis' introduction in English. I don't have any personal or other familial connections with Albania - or North Macedonia or Kosovo, all the nationalities, including Albanian, used on fifteen fake non-EU passports used illegally in the UK since 2013 and 2014. I had never even visited those countries before the summer of 2024. The 2016 project was for the purpose of researching and documenting, in an artistic manner, the refugee and immigration crisis, as I experienced it in my native Greece, as well as to voice my opinions on this topic from my perspective as a native Greek. I spoke to non-EU economic refugees, who must not be confused with political asylum seekers: those are people who encounter persecution for political reasons from their countries of origin or citizenship, rather than illegal or legal economic immigrants, like the men I spoke to. Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo, all the nationalities on the fake non-EU passports, including Albanian, used in the UK, successively since 2013 and 2014 are non-EU countries. Greece, my native (and my parents' and grandparents' native), has been in the EU since 1981. I have also been a UK national, by naturalisation, since 2011, for the purpose of voting and for political participation in the UK, where I have spent most of my adult life. Paradoxically - or not so paradoxically, since I had also been investigating this case - the political outcome, since 2020 and 2023, of this project was that three fictitious "daughters" of mine had been on the Met police's databases, as 17, 22 and 23 Italian/Albanian female sex offenders. Supposedly, I must had been given birth to a daughter in Albania in 2001, 2002 and 2007! (!!the "prostitutes"; that's believable!!) Or two "schizophrenic" sons, Panagiotis Nigiannis, both, Albanians!; born in 2003 and 2004! as well as a son from Kosovo!; born in 2009! That is simply Golden Dawn's, the BNP's (the XRW component in the UK), and others' cultural "imagination" with regards to Albanians and Albanian/Kosovo citizens. Factually speaking, in 2002, I was living in Athens, Greece, engaged to be married to my former husband, a Greek left-wing national, working at MOB (Mauve) Architects, as an architect designer, with an international cohort of colleagues. I got married in 2003. I lived in Athens until 2004, working also at R.C.Tech architects. In 2001 and the period after 2004, I lived in the UK, working as an architect and in higher education; I don't have children. I gained my first practical experience as an architect in the UK, working in private architectural practice from 1999 until 2002. The records with the fake IDs have finally been corrected in September 2024, including records of falsely alleged children of mine born 2002-2004, when I lived and worked in my native Greece. Specifically, in 2007, I was living in London since 2005, working as an EU/Greek university lecturer. When the G20 summit demonstrations took place in London, in 2009, with the known case of the death of Ian Tomlison by a police officer, I had lived in the UK since 2005, working as an EU/Greek lecturer at the University of East London, where I was also known as Betty Nigianni by my students and colleagues. I never participated in any public demonstrations in the UK, however I have attended demonstrations in my native Greece and, in 2019, in the Netherlands. It is not uncommon for politically-minded cultural producers and academic to participate in public demonstrations about causes they support. There are no children in my medical records, during the whole time I have lived in the UK, which is a total of seventeen years, plus, twelve of those being a British citizen. Greek children take their father's surname; Greeks don't have many children, they're suffering from a shrinking population, although they are in the EU since 1981, for economic reasons. My concerns about serious international organised criminal activity (not even honouring children's basic rights) were reported and confirmed by the Greek, Scandinavian and Albanian authorities. The British authorities have been lagging behind for a long time, intentionally, with their impossible unverified "stories", bashing the left and the liberals - or whatever is left of them - and whoever is decent - whatever has been left of that, too. The Greek police confirmed in 2024 that all claims about children of mine, also between 2002 and 2004, have been dismissed. The Greek Golden Dawn - with their "Big Idea" (Megali Idea) of conquering foreign countries, like North Macedonia, and their chronic attacks on immigrants and refugees in Greece - was convicted as a criminal organisation in October 2020. They invented the 'concept' of the 'Real Greek', dependent on any Greek's political orientation. Saying this, they also dig up their target's ancestry: in my case, covering three generations, there are seven (7) Greek ancestors on my father's side, plus one (1), who was an Italian ancestor, my father's grandfather, with the first name Gianni, surname unknown; and eight (8) Greek ancestors on my mother's side. Golden Dawn has been losing their sixty seven (67) appeals and early releases, because of my international work that has been very risky, due to the organised crime methods followed in this case. The conversation included in this exposition took place during the period Golden Dawn was prosecuted in the Greek High Courts of Justice (Areios Pagos), 2015-2020. Despite the fact they were frightened, many non-EU immigrants to Greece provided testimonies in the courts during that period. Manolis Glezos was the only Greek politician, who went to visit Magda Fyssa, Pavlos' mother, in the Greek courts. For Pavlos Fyssas, aka Killah P; assassinated at age 34. For Alain Badiou, a communist-Maoist political philosopher, and the OP. For the abducted Albanian and of Albanian ethnicity immigrants. For Michalis Katsouris; assassinated at age 29. For the "Other Greek Left". Thanks to the Albanian embassy in London, the General Directorate of the State's Police in Tirane, as well as the Durres police and the Durres prosecutor. Thanks to Edi Rama and his Socialist Party, a coalition of left-wing parties, government, for all the work that was done in the summer of 2024, during my first ever visit to Albania. Thanks to the Norwegian Labour Party of Jonas Ghar Store and left-wing coalition government. Thanks also to Skopje police and Prishtine police; as well as the newly elected Socialist Party in North Macedonia. Thanks to the Italian police at Bari. Last but not least: thanks to the Greek police chief, Marinos Stagakis, and the Greek police organised crime division, specifically Ioannis Papakostas, who spoke to me on the phone in the summer of 2022 and offered a starting point. Thanks to the Swedish London embassy and the Norwegian London embassy that confirmed the identified and reported NRM membership. Thanks to the US London embassy that came in late, in the summer of 2024; the work hasn't finished. Thanks to the Oslo Greek embassy, autumn 2024. Thanks to the French police, autumn 2024. THANKS to the Swedish police, autumn 2024. Finally, thanks to the exceptionally few Met police officers, who eventually figured it out, as well as those British, such as Keir Starmer since 2023, and others working behind the scenes for the last three years or so, but also more recently in Albania, Germany, and Sweden. It would not have been possible without them. It has been a long process with many obstacles along the way, seemingly insurmountable, but as proven not. For peace and for safeguarding democracy and everything that comes with it. Investigatory research, with legal and political activism, surrounded by artworks, 2016-2024. References: Fred C. Abrahams, "Modern Albania: From Dictatorship to Democracy in Europe", New York: New York University Press, 2015. Counterextremism Project, "Violent, Right-wing Extremism and Terrorism - Transnational Connectivity, Definitions, Incidents, Structures and Countermeasures", November 2020, available online. See all expositions under Art and Activism: "Debris", "The Loot" and "XRW (Implicature)".

I like to approach my body of work as being one big opera. Every object, wearable object or costume serves the opera. Every spatial costume a backdrop, every sculpture a prop, every wearable object a costume, every costume a character. One day I will make an opera consisting of all my works. Welcome to my world, welcome to my opera

Operating at the intersection of fine art walking practice, psychogeography, critical animal studies and ecology, the practice of Deep Canine Topography seeks to reframe the humble act of the ‘walkies’ as a co-authored act of ‘making’ or ‘performing’ together. As part of the practice based element of my PhD thesis, Deep Canine Topography, 10 - 10 - 10 Edge-lands, is a further investigation of the methodologies of Deep Canine Topography (O'Brien & O'Brien 2018). This series operates as a visual and sonic essay for each walk and explores memory, deep topographical imprints, and entropy between wild and post-industrial spaces and sub-urban sprawl, on the edge of the city of Leicester and the county of Leicestershire. During the 2020 Covid 19 pandemic lockdown, as part of permitted exercise, we undertook 10 Walks, of up to 10 miles, within a 10 mile circle of our home, just outside of the city centre. Covid 19 restrictions, remained in place in Leicester longer than in any other UK city or region. Each title will take you to a different walk. Click return to return to the title page. Click Base Map to open a GoogleMap of the walk locations and GPS tracklogs (in a new window). Clicking on the round MAP circle, on the title page, will take you to the central exposition of my PhD: Deep Canine Topography.

Operating at the intersection of fine art walking practice, psychogeography, critical animal studies and ecology, the practice of Deep Canine Topography seeks to reframe the humble act of the ‘walkies’ as a co-authored, multi-species act of ‘making’ and ‘performing’ together. This exposition operates as a central point from which to explore a number of mini expositions, undertaken as part of my practice based PhD. Instruction: When you arrive at the page you can use the map legends as hyperlinks to navigate to random points, or the mouse/trackpad to move around the page. Alternatively, you can navigate the page via the page map in the collapsible header menu. An accompanying soundscape will automatically play throughout and documents a single walk from the human sonic POV. You can leave this to play whilst exploring the canine POV videos or pause it if you wish. Click on the videos to play and again to stop. You can play more than one at a time. X returns to the map. This central Exposition acts as a meeting point through which to explore various experiments in Deep Canine Topography. Titled hyperlinks navigate to individual mini expositions. Each mini exposition has a route back to the landing page via the round MAP link. You may feel lost or disorientated at times, but don't worry, this is all part of the process of navigation and hopefully offers a playful interactive and performative meander. PLEASE WEAR HEADPHONES: Headphones are advised throughout to explore the immersive sonic elements of some of the practice encounters.

This exposition presents the PhD Artistic Research project environment embodiment - towards poetic narratives by Fernanda Branco at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (2020-2024). This artistic research explores experiential agency in encounters between body and environment. It draws from uncanny, embodied, and poetic perspectives and unfolds as a constellation of sympoietic practices. PhD Supervisors: Rebecca Hilton - Stockholm University of the Arts (2021-2024) Gunhild Mathea Olaussen - KHiO (2021-2022) Dora Garcia - KHiO (2023-2024) Fernanda Branco has designed this exposition in collaboration with web designer Ellen Palmeira. Illustrations by Aza Drawings by Francisco Blixt Cards and booklets designed by Amanda Costa