2013
Urban Halo
“a friction between metaphors, materials, body and city”
artist notes (February 2015)
“every step becomes a letter and rhythm contributes to the formation of words and sentences”
artist notes (November 2013)
Concept
Urban Halo is defined by the metaphorical and actual meanings of both human movement and city, initiating an inner peripatetic dialogue with the current reality. Based on his walking, the artist approaches in a poetic way the perpetual movement and psychic conflict of body and soul towards a polis inside. Balancing between metaphor and action, the artist uses material metaphors to enunciate spatial stories. The asphalt as the surface of the soul, the city as an inner topography and the air as a primordial sound of the body. A peripatetic movement that is defined periods of harmony, contrast, emotional outbursts and failures. Steps form a spatial narration within an imaginative city, where walking process “weaves” all of the experiences into a personal and collective “halo”. The work was an invited commission from Onassis Cultural Foundation for Visual Dialogues exhibition (Plato Academy, 2013)
Description
Walking performance for camera, poetry
Technical: Full HD video, 16:9, colour, stereo sound, single channel, English subs
Duration: 5:58’
Year: 2013-14
Credits
Concept - Performance - Creation: Bill Psarras
Subtitling: Nadia Georgiou (>)
In memory of beloved F. Psarras (1931-2013)
Performance took place across different sites in Greece and UK
Info
The work was commissioned by Onassis Cultural Foundation for the group exhibition Visual Dialogues 2013 at Plato Academy, curated by M. Karra, for the C.P. Kavafy year. Urban Halo has been also screened across various video art and film festivals around the world: Athens Digital Arts Festival 2017 (Greece), Alternative Video International Festival 2015 (Serbia), Invisible Cities group exhibition (Italian Institute of Culture, 2015), Syros International Film Festival (2015, Onassis screenings), The Art of Walking group exhibition (Museum in the Park, UK 2014) among others
Available
Artwork: https://vimeo.com/76279152
Onassis exhibition teaser: https://vimeo.com/79616806
Courtesy of the artist | © 2020 Bill Psarras
VISUAL DIALOGUES 2013 (Onassis Cultural Foundation)
The Visual Dialogues 2013 leave the confines of the ONASSIS STEGI to transform the Plato’s Academy Leisure Park into an ideal space for exhibiting works inspired by the great Greek poet, C.P. Cavafy. This year, the Visual Dialogues, which the ONASSIS STEGI is staging for the third time, mark the 150th anniversary of the birth and 80th anniversary of the death of the great poet, C.P. Cavafy (1863-1933). A stroll through the Plato’s Academy Leisure Park becomes a journey around works by contemporary Greek and international artists which deal with the presence of ancient Greek thought in Cavafy’s poetry. New and original art-works using modern technologies (video screenings, digital images, photographs and animation etc.) are shown in architectural constructions which become a compass for a journey with a difference.
Artists
"I STARED AT BEAUTY SO MUCH..." - J. HADJITHOMAS - K. JOREIGE
"TOWARDS THE BANK OF THE FUTURE" - THEO PRODROMIDIS
"ANTIOCH" - YIANNIS THEODOROPOULOS
"OUT OF TIME" - ERICA SCOURTI
"AND SO MUCH INTENSITY IN GREEK PHRASEOLOGY" - MARIA VARELA
"AN EXCAVATION / A READING" - RICK MYERS
"PINNA" - ATHANASIOS ARGIANAS
"URBAN HALO" - BILL PSARRAS
"ORACLE" - YORGOS TAXIARCHOPOULOS
"HERE LET ME STAND" - MARIANNA CHRISTOFIDES
Location: Plato Academy, Athens, Greece
Exhibition curator: Marilena V. Karra
Duration: 7 Nov 2013 – 7 Jan 2014
Free entrance
Δέκα σύγχρονοι εικαστικοί καλλιτέχνες προσκλήθηκαν να δημιουργήσουν, μέσω της χρήσης νέων τεχνολογιών (προβολές βίντεο, ηλεκτρονικών εικόνων ή φωτογραφιών, animation κ.λπ.) νέα, εντελώς πρωτότυπα έργα, με αφορμή την έκθεση, τα οποία παρουσιάζονται μέσα σε ειδικές αρχιτεκτονικές κατασκευές. Με επιδίωξη τη δημιουργία ενός διαλόγου ανάμεσα σε Έλληνες και ξένους καλλιτέχνες, και ταυτόχρονα με σεβασμό απέναντι στον κοσμοπολιτικό χαρακτήρα της ζωής και του έργου του ποιητή, στους εικαστικούς που συμμετέχουν εφέτος στη δράση συγκαταλέγονται τρεις ξένοι και αρκετοί Έλληνες που είναι μόνιμα εγκατεστημένοι στο εξωτερικό. Οι Εικαστικοί Διάλογοι 2013 προσκαλούν τους Αθηναίους σε ένα περίπατο μέσα στο Πάρκο Αναψυχής της Ακαδημίας Πλάτωνος. Η περιήγηση στο Πάρκο γίνεται ταξίδι ανάμεσα σε έργα σύγχρονων Ελλήνων και ξένων εικαστικών, που πραγματεύονται την παρουσία της αρχαίας ελληνικής σκέψης στο έργο του Κ. Π. Καβάφη.