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  • EUThe Presidency (EU)

Greek Presidency decorates Justus Lipsius building: A synthesis of contemporary Greek art, traditional patterns and philosophy

  • Photo: © European Union 2014

    © European Union 2014

Philosophy 

The "Decorating the Council 2014"  project was commissioned to the young, award-winning architect and artist Andreas Angelidakis. It consists of an extended presentation of the artists' ongoing Philosophy Series based on Plato's Republic "Allegory of the Cave". The project is inspired by the unique facade decoration engravings (called “xysta”) on traditional housing of Pyrgi village, on the island of Chios, merging the traditional with the futuristic. Analyzing the pattern, one can see that it is an abstraction of nature, triangles representing flowers and leaves. Today we can also read the pattern as an artistic pixelated version of the real images. 

The Philosophy series of artworks and installations investigates the constant shift between the virtual and the real, between online and offline life. As natural or artificial light passes through the patterned surface of the Philosophy structures, the space becomes a place of contemplation, while new variations of the triangular patterns emerge from the shadows. Sometimes the shadows fall onto the pattern itself, creating a space where the virtual and the real co-exist as a meditative environment.

Using a triangular pattern, originally found online, the artist designed a small virtual house that was part of a 3D online community of artists. To produce a hard copy of that virtual design, Angelidakis used an early version of the now popular 3D printing technique, thus transferring the virtual design into our tactile reality. This initial "transfer" was the beginning of a series of shifts between the real and the virtual and vice versa, where the pattern morphed from house into tree, chair, pavilion, facade, bookstore and more. At times the morphing resulted in an online structure while at other times in an object inside an art exhibition as shown at Superneen in Milan (2006) and Grand Promenade (2006) at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens. 

Installation 

The central installation at Justus Lipsius consists of a large hanging mobile of triangles, made of a lightweight fabric. This pattern cloud will allow light to pass through and occasionally throw shade on the floor of the atrium. 

Other installations consist of 3D printed models of a Philosophy patterned house installed next to aromatic herbs typical of the Greek countryside. The Library consists of bookcases and seating areas made from the same pattern, where one could spend time reading and thinking about places of meditation and regeneration. The offices for the Presidency are installed as small Philosophy environments with digital wallpapers, showing a typical Greek landscape and 3D printed maquettes, 

 

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