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| 'Re-collection', installation, dimensions variable |
When I embarked on the MA Visual Arts at Camberwell College of Arts in 2011 I had just finished working on a personal rough pop music project called Mataroa. I had completed the album, I formed a live band constituted by friends and former band mates as to rehearse and create the live version of the songs in order to present it live, on stage. So it happened and it went brilliant!! It was a fantastic experience. We only presented Mataroa live once, 5 days before I left Athens to go to London.
The title of the project was inspired by the opportunity that was given to 200 young Greek intellectuals[1] in 1945, to embark on a Liberty ship, called Mataroa, and to undertake a journey 'towards salvation'. Its destination was Paris; where they would flourish and stay in history at a time when Post-war Greece was experiencing a devastating civil war. Inspired by the process of Psychoanalysis, the idea of the project was to write songs -instrumental or non instrumental- in order to express personal feelings and issues I needed to; record stories -personal or non personal- that had an effect on me; elaborate on political views I stood for during the past as well as to capture emotional moments -I have experienced. Having said that, my intention was to compose a concept album by putting together each song next to another in such way so as to function metaphorically as a small existential journey -that one undertakes- towards self awareness.
Obviously, the sort of experience I gained through this project influenced my research project at Camberwell. On the basis that each Mataroa song is written for a personal memory of a person; a story; a situation etc, the 1st idea/experiment that I came up with for my research project was to use them as my basic material in order to compose visually an existential journey. A journey that would go from intuitive recollection to awareness. In order to do that, I started to design a sequence in order to communicate such an existential itinerary.
The 1st part of that itinerary would stand for the intuitive recollection in the same way I worked the Mataroa songwriting. I visualised each song as a single piece that when they put together they form a conceptual Atlas -composed by things seemingly unrelated to each other. An Atlas that it would not make any sense -on the basis that it is the first part of a sequence that goes progressively from unconsciousness to awareness. Having said that, I composed an installation called 'Re-collection' (image 1&2) and I designed its components to look like found or ready-made and therefore, re-called.
The 2nd part of the project was an artist book entitled 'Associations', which was designed to accompany the installation aiming to provide explanation and information for each piece as well as to imply the connections that all these things have to my mind on the basis of its design.
The 3d part of the sequence it was supposed to be a single group photograph placed next to the installation in a small size. In this group photograph I would use people in order to impersonate the personalities and the objects and symbols that emerge out of 'Re-collection'. This would stand as a moment of realisation; as the moment that one becomes aware about their seemingly unrelated things that they may re-call in a Psychoanalytical process. Eventually, one can be saved through such a process and live their lives free, in the same way that the 200 young Greek intellectuals did so. The group photograph would be something like a proof they sent back to their families when they disembarked on Paris. At this point, I wrote an essay about Mataroa, called All passengers ready for disembarkation; it's 1945 (see also the section essays).
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| 'Re-collection', installation, dimensions variable |
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| 'Re-collection', installation test |
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| 'Re-collection', preparatory drawings |
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| 'Re-collection', preparatory drawings |
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| 'Re-collection', preparatory drawings |
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| 'Associations', artist book, 14x20.5 cm, paper & carton. Spread. |
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| 'Associations', artist book, 14x20.5 cm, paper & carton. Spread. |
Concept 1 Reassessment:
At that time, I was still very influenced by the Mataroa project in Athens. I left my home and came to London, I did an unofficial goodby party that lots of people attended (150 maybe more) as the 1st public Mataroa presentation. However, as a synthesis, Mataroa was completed the day this gig took place. Of course it needed improvements in terms of its identity and graphics because I didn't had enough time to work on that along with the extremely intense rehearsal on that summer. As a subject matter, I wanted to continue working with it -and I did. It seems that I wanted to take a piece from Athens with me, here in London. But as a project, Mataroa was fulfilled. If I was continuing this concept in the MA I would have repeated myself as well as the project. That is why between December and February I had this awful feeling that I was doing something wrong.
What is more, without including the music and the songs, the Mataroa visual journey (concept 1) would not work. It would be absolutely personal and subjective and hence, very difficult to handle within the context of an academic program. In addition, without the music, a visualisation of a personal itinerary is debatable whether it would be interesting or engaging to the audience.
In conclusion, I thought why not explore through my research project the possibility of communicating the concept of an existential destination (self-awareness) to the audience. Therefore, I stopped working on 'Concept 1' and came up with a new idea (see Concept 2).
Nikos Georgopoulos
London,
May 4, 2012
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