Konstantinos Doumpenidis
Visual Artist and Creative Director
Live and work in Athens, Greece
Creative Director of Juicer Studio
Part of Esto Association
Works
Publications
CV - About
Visual Artist and Creative Director
Live and work in Athens, Greece
Creative Director of Juicer Studio
Part of Esto Association
Works
Publications
CV - About
Shadows Places
Culture Foundation of Tinos - GreeceJuly 2023
Liani Ammos Bay, Evia-Greece, has a wind farm near residential areas, creating "shadow places" according to Val Plumwood. Residents face noise, infrasound, and disruptive flickering. This highlights the need for inclusive renewable energy development, prioritizing community well-being. Embracing degrowth principles, we should focus on sustainable, human-scale energy solutions and consider regulations for equitable and eco-friendly wind farm locations. Dialogue among residents, authorities, and advocates is crucial to address ecological and social issues and promote green energy investments aligned with nature's boundaries.
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Preserving the Past, Shaping the Future: Lessons from ZNS Archive for Reconciliation and Awareness
Halle 14, Leipzig - GermanyMay 2023
The exploration of Leipzig's routes reflecting Germany's colonial past reveals intriguing points of interest, including Friedrich Ratzel's role in the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft (DKG) and the connection to karakul sheep in Namibia. The sheep's journey from Halle to Namibia and the subsequent fur trade to Leipzig unveils a significant historical narrative. These sheep played vital roles in displacing indigenous communities, shaping local economies, and were subjects of scientific discussions on agriculture, genetics, and race. By reexamining history through the Zentralmagazin Naturwissenschaftlicher Sammlungen (ZNS) archives, attention is drawn to the rightful claim of reparations by the Herero and Nama people in Germany, highlighting the importance of rectifying historical injustices for a more just and inclusive future.
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Fascist Virus
Centrum, Berlin - GermanyNovember, 2020
Drawing from Karl Polanyi's unpublished article "The Fascist Virus" (1934), the text examines fascism's contagion, targeting the working class and minorities during systemic crises. By weaving an allegory on contemporary societies and right-wing extremist voices in Europe, it explores Eco-fascism's utilization of ecology and nature for land protection and exclusionary belonging. The COVID-19 pandemic has also revealed ecofascist ideologies prioritizing environmental concerns over human lives. The text draws parallels to the past, where the far-right exploited ecological themes for propaganda. It serves as a cautionary tale about history's repetitive tendencies, reflecting on the current manifestations of ecofascism during the pandemic.
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L' Autre Europe avec Jean
EMERGENCY, Vevey - SwitzerlandJune, 2018
This project was realised during the artist-in-residence program “Emergency” in Vevey, Switzerland. It focuses on the contribution of Ioannis (Jean) Kapodistrias to the reconstruction of Europe after the French Revolution and the system of ideas he introduced, thus contributing to Switzerland's independence and the establishment of the Constitution of Neutrality, based on ancient Greek democratic principles. The Kapodistrian vision for a Europe of freedom, self-determination of peoples, equality and autonomy of states, protection of human rights, general disarmament and the active role of citizens for a true democracy, has been shaken. Through the installation I created using the flag of the European Union and incorporating ancient elements into it, I would like to draw attention to the need for a re-examination of those factors that break the national fantasy, and to transfer the viewer to a state of dream archeology. Ancient Greece is not promoted as a paradigm, but is proposed to be treated as a hybrid between the past and the future, according to which the new Europe can be reshaped. Europe's future may come from the past, based on the ideas of direct democracy, autonomy, self-determination and self-government.
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Government of Things
Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM)March, 2017
The Government of Things is a movement of radical governing where the things themselves partake in an exercise of political protection of the environment while simultaneously creating a new political geography. GoT, following the form of a nation-state government, wants to challenge the policies that governments apply to the encroaching of multinational enterprises in indigenous people. We call for environmental movements to create an internationalist federal voice against every kind of environmental violence and exchange experiences and practices as well as inform about the progress of their struggles.
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Debtron Electronics
Megaron Athens Concert HallMay, 2016
Debtron is a state of the art integrated mechanism in compliance with the OCDE Toolkit, particularly effective in the rationalization and deflation of national debt. It is an essential apparatus aimed at all accredited, aspiring and industrious politicians and legislators.
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Facts about orange
March, 2016"Facts About Orange" is an immersive and thought-provoking retrospective journey through the evolution of the color "orange." Through a meticulously curated chronological order of events, it traces the captivating transformation of orange from a symbol of security and cheerfulness to one of uncertainty and terror. This mesmerizing project comprises a captivating four-channel installation, where visitors can immerse themselves in the vivid visuals, and a comprehensive website that offers access to the full text, inviting readers to delve deeper into the multifaceted narrative of this intriguing color.
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I want your gold
November, 2015Ever since the beginning of the Eurozone crisis, all countries that were subjected into rescue programs were forced to proceed into privatization of goods and services in exchange of receiving loans from the troika. Especially in the case of Portugal and Greece, big companies and investors can buy cheap, aiming for big profits. In Greece, the bestowal of public wealth to multinational corporations had progressed long before the crisis. Such a case is that of Canadian Eldorado Gold company which through Ellinikos Xrysos A.E. has been mining gold in the area of Skouries, Stratoni & Olympiada.
Mining and metal processing is a form of heavy industry that entails many dangers, such as non-reversible environmental damage, pollution of the atmosphere, water and soil causing versatile consequences to hu- man health and quality of life.
Gold is a market value, an investment property. Its price is shifting daily according to the law of supply and demand. Due to the time difference between markets the gold index is constantly moving, determining trans- actions.
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Island
MEME, AthensJune, 2015
In an unfinished space of a newly built block of flats, another world is coming into being. The construction works seem to have ceased for some time now, but the clothes and bedding that can be found scattered around imply a human presence. Building materials have been left behind, giving a liminal feeling to the space which can be perceived both as an abandoned construction site and a potential safe habitat. The traces between the materials narrate a story of movement of the individuals that have been temporarily occupying the space as an intermediate stop of a journey, until the next destination of a safe residence. The management of human flows is not confined within geographical co-ordinates. A new geography of materials is being revealed as an accurate metaphor of the recent reality, projecting the right to an ongoing journey. All materials either compact and rigid or fluid and fragile, they are dynamic elements gradually transforming the landscape into an ever-changing semeiology. The revelation of this unfinished space and the emergence of new political bodies pushing towards its (ir)regularity, remains vital.
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I lost my keys
Medphot Photography Festival, RethymnoJune 2016
Τhe idea of home includes the concept of familiarity, and in that sense it creates the borders with the unfamiliar. These borders are mutable, plastic and re-definable through the continuous process of initiation into new ideas and images. The lack of access to the familiar place creates the sense of floating between the two notions. In this situation the familiar reverses and the thing that is “closer” distances itself leaving space for the development of new ideas and experimentations. The natural landscape of the “outdoors” is a clear demonstration of the absence of definite limits between known and unknown as it usually demands a process of exploration which will eventually lead to familiarity.
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