Big Other's Little Others

What happens if 9 artists leave their own personal work space and spend a week together, creating in a single common space? This is the main idea behind the workshop, of the second activity of Arcade Project by the Cultural Organisation Stoa Aeschylou.

This idea starts with a given: Art is a lonely process. The artist creates his/her works, in his/her own space, most of the times, privately. The final outcome is of course something that he/her has created without any external factors influencing the process.

With this workshop, this is not the case though. New rules are set and a whole new process begins. In a single space, inside the space of Stoa Aeschylou and for a whole week nine artists are asked to create together and produce works for a common exhibition. There is only one condition: There are no rules.

Each one is allowed and encouraged to interfere or “intrude” into the other artists’ work. She/He may add something, express an opinion or even bring new ideas. There are no limits. What is interesting in this activity is that these nine artists work and express themselves artistically in nine different ways. So, if one interferes in the work of the other, this means that the “elements” she he will propose, will be new ones (and that under other circumstances the artist would not consider into his or her work). The ultimate purpose is that it won’t be clear who created those works.

The second part of the workshop is the psychologist.

During the week, a psychologist will be present in the whole process. His role is to observe and write down everything he sees and he finds interesting from his professional point of view. This might be the artists’ behavior, who they work together, how their works develop, if they are affected by the environment and what kind of relationships will be developed.

We assume that during this week, a contemporary society model will arise. Some roles will be assigned. For example there might be a person who will act as the leader, maybe there will be a “loner”, a “sociable” etc. The psychologists will be present to write down exactly this. No one knows how the workshop will end up or what the final results may be. Human behavior has no patterns. Even when there is a final purpose: an exhibition.

During the workshop, from 1-8 September, the doors of the place will be open to the public to come and see the whole process. It’s anyway a part of the activity.

The opening will take place on 10 September 2008. During the night, the psychologist will present his conclusions, his findings and will give an analysis from a scientific point of view, of this activity.

The participating artists are: Elina Ioannou, Athena Antoniadou, Demetris Neokleous, Panikos Tembriotis, Niki Sava, Stephen Little, Cedar Lewishon, Patti Ellis, Horst Weierstall.

The psychologist is Cleanthis Cleanthous.

The exhibition will be open on weekdays 17:00-21:00 and on Saturday from 11:00-18:00.