On June 8th my film Asking Trees, Birds and Ghosts About Future Images and Sounds was premiered through the Austrian National Broadcast Channel, ORF, in the framework of their Artist in Residency program and resulting from my participation in Pixel, Bytes and Film. The film is accessible in the Austrian territory through this link and is currently on view at the exhibition Earthly Communities in Kunst Merano, Italy.
El 8 de junio se estrenó mi película «Preguntando a árboles, pájaros y fantasmas sobre imágenes y sonidos futuros» a través del Canal Nacional de Radiodifusión de Austria (ORF), en el marco de su programa de Artistas en Residencia y como resultado de mi participación en Pixel, Bytes and Film. La película está disponible en Austria a través de este enlace y actualmente se exhibe en la exposición «Earthly Communities» en Kunst Merano, Italia.
A hundred years after the exchange of populations between Turkey and Greece, Vasilikí Sifostratoudaki visited Capadocia as no one in her family had ever done before, after they were forcibly taken to live in Greece. She followed in the footsteps of her great-aunt, a midwife (mami), and tried to learn how the women who helped people through birth, illness, and death played a role in caring for communities deeply connected to the customs and the land they would eventually leave behind.
How did these communities, families, and women create a new sense of home here? Vasilikí has been grappling with this question every day since she opened the Yellow Brick artist-run space in Nea Ionia, one of the Athenian neighbourhoods shaped by refugees and their stories.
For the interdisciplinary project “Perátis (Περάτης): Exploring the exchanged practices of midwives between Cappadocia and Nea Ionia.”, she shared her concerns and intuitions with the working team, inviting them to a collaborative process in which creative research is approached as an affective task capable of strengthening ties to past, present, and future belongings.
Curated by Eliana Otta, the project “Perátis (Περάτης): Exploring the exchanged practices of midwives between Cappadocia and Nea Ionia,” was developed by Yellow Brick initiator and artist Vasilikí Sifostratoudaki, working in close collaboration with Elpida Rikou as research consultant and Nuno Cassola as director of photography and coeditor. A part of this project took place in Cappadocia in collaboration with the professor Bulent Ozcelik of the University of Cappadocia, and the historian Sanem Su Avci.
The interdisciplinary project includes video, installation, photography, and texts that will be shown in an exhibition at Or.artspace and performances that will take place at Yellow Brick.
Supported and funded by the Greek Ministry of Culture
En febrero presentamos la página web Luto Verde en el Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Barranco, en el contexto de la exposición Los ríos pueden existir sin aguas pero no sin orillas. La página es resultado del proyecto Santuario Virtual Para un Duelo Fertilizante y fue desarrollada por el estudio de Hermanos Magia, dirigido por Gabriel Alayza. En la presentación participaron él, Nuno Cassola (colaborador permanente del proyecto), Beatríz Pío (de la comunidade Nuevo Amanecer Hawai, hija del líder asesinado Mauro Pío) y yo.
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In February we presented the website Luto Verde at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Barranco, in the context of the exhibition Los ríos pueden existir sin aguas pero no sin orillas. The page is the result of the project Santuario Virtual Para un Duelo Fertilizante and was developed by the Hermanos Magia studio, directed by Gabriel Alayza. The presentation was attended by him, Nuno Cassola (permanent collaborator of the project), Beatríz Pío (from the Nuevo Amanecer Hawai community, daughter of the murdered leader Mauro Pío) and myself.
Un poco tarde comparto la noticia de mi participación en la Bienal de Mercosur, versión online, que ha sido curada por Andrea Giunta y Dorota Biczel. Esta edición, llamada Femininos, Visualidades, Afetos, cuenta con artistas con un trabajo muy valioso siempre, pero probablemente más en estos momentos, como Cecilia Vicuña, Ana Gallardo, Jota Mombaca, y otras…
Yo participo con mis piezas de la instalación Carmen y con el video Palabras de Mujeres, que puede verse completo en línea.
A bit late I share the news of my participation in the Bienal de Mercosur, online, curated by Andrea Giunta and Dorota Biczel. This edition, called Femininos, Visualidades, Afetos, includes artists whose work is always extremely valuable, but probably more in the present times, such as Cecilia Vicuña, Ana Gallardo, Jota Mombaca, among others…
I participate with my pieces from the installation Carmen and the video Palabras de Mujeres (Women´s words), which can be seen online in this link.
Eliana Otta 