Nikos Arvanitis
a perfect world
solo exhibition
January 30. - February 15. 2025
Athens, Greece
Part of the RECONSTRUCTING MEMORIES exhibition series.
Curated by Maria Lalou and Skafte Aymo-Boot.
a perfect world, exhibition view at
Wood, styrofoam, resin mortar, acrylic paints, pigments, varnish, video, sound, dimensions variable, duration 28' 28', 2025.
With the voices of: Elli Arvaniti, Nikos Arvanitis, Giorgos Asimakakis, Eleni Chalavazi, Natasa Kopsaftopoulou, Andrianna Panagiotaki, Aggeliki Soupiona, Apostolos Tsorfolias, Xenofon Vardaros, Despoina Vaxevanidi, Christos Zafeiris, Maria Zervoudaki and Magdalena Zotou.
Technical advisor: Apostolos Polychroniadis.
a perfect world, exhibition view at
Starting from an excavation of the collective urban mind a perfect world is seeking to uncover relations between the contemporary human being and nature. Firmly removed from any actual nature, the work attempts to raise questions concerning the anthropocentric position, creating a 'natural' world that is completely artificial.
The sonic and spatial stimuli allow for the listeners/viewers to inhabit a liminal space between two locations or else two states of coexisting with the natural world and non-human species. Every sound of the piece is a snippet of communication originally situated within the limits of the forest, yet paradoxically produced and presented in urban context. Conditioned within its intrinsic contradictions, the chorus opens up to immaterial threads connecting the rural and the urban, the human and the non-human.
A perfect world addresses an existential crisis in the relationship between human and nature. The work unfolds as a fictional narrative (1) enhanced with sound compositions based on studio recordings in which city residents were invited, using their voices, to imitate - faithfully, idiosyncratically or stereotypically - sounds of flora, fauna, natural elements and phenomena as well as other sound events, mimicking the sounds of the natural environment.
Nature exists merely as a mental image, as a controlled piece of design. Nothing in the work is real: Two anthropomorphic animals are having a philosophical discussion about how to mould their environment into an ideal shape, while a perfectly crafted artificial rock hovers centrally in the installation. Even if at first perceived as authentic, the soundscape gradually reveals itself, underlining different degrees of connectedness in the urban humans’ perceptions of nature. Artificial nature or naturally artificial, humanoid nature or naturally human.
The elements of the work seek to find a position in this troublesome relationship at the same time as pointing out that the polarity itself is just a construction of the human intellect.
(1.) Based on the children's book "Rabbit and Bear: The Perfect World of Rabbit" by Julian Gough and Jim Field, Icarus Publishing, 2024 and the film Der Rechte Weg (The right way) by Peter Fischli and David Weiss, 1982-1983.
Text by Maria Lalou and Skafte Aymo-Boot
a perfect world, exhibition view at
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