Installation and performance, 2018, Athens, Greece. 
In the context of Athens biennale 2018: ANTI curated by Stefanie Hessler, Kostis Stafylakis and Poka-Yio.

Performed by Aggeliki Stroumpou, Akis Marinos, Anastasia Pampouropoulou, Anastasis – Panagis Meletis, Anthi Daferera, Argyris Marinis, Avgoustina Stylianou, Catherine Pataka, Charitomeni Mara, Chatzinikolaou Antonia – Sofia, Christina Avgerinou, Christopher Ioakimidis, Christos Fousekis, Constantinos Koulakmanidis, Dimitris Angelakopoulos, Eleftherios Varlamis-Stefas, Evgenia Fragkolia, Evriviades Goro, Foteini Tatsi, Georgia Panagiotou, Georgia – Ivi Pappa, Giorgos Maragkoudakis, Haris Vlahos, Helen Karakou, Ilias Tafaruci, Ioannis Oichaliotis, Ioannis Tzaneteas, Kallirroi Panagou, Katerina Ioannou, Katerina Kalentzi, Katerina Lebidara, Katerina Skordou, Konstantinos Tsatsaris, Lilia Hadjigeorgiou, Maria Labrinidi, Maria Pelekanou, Markella Ksilogiannopoulou, Konstantina Panteri, Miltiadis Hatzigiannis, Nikos Polymenakos, Orfeas Kyriakos Makaris Kapetanakis, Petros Angelakopoulos, Polina Andreadou, Raphaella Koni, Savvas Tsimouris, Sophia Pappa, Stefanos Papadakis, Stelios Apostolou, Tania Varveris, Thanos Ghikas, Thenia Karlafti, Theodora Savvalaridi, Theodore kakitsos, Vanessa Kretsimou, Vasiliki Leounaki, Zoi Boutrigiofski

Panos Sklavenitis explores how strategies of collective self-ridicule can challenge hegemonic narratives. Masked groupuscules are often the protagonists in his participatory pieces. In Cargo, Sklavenitis sets up a neo-tribal community inhabiting an unde ned dystopian future. In the aftermath of some unprecedented catastrophe, Greece is inhabited by a Mad Max-type social clan decorated with varied symbols of modern Greek nationalism. This neo-tribal community—a mutated relic of a once vast middle class—is partially modeled after a “cargo cult” worship of “technologically advanced civilizations” albeit the community appears to worship relics of recent Greek social history, such as leftovers of the 1990s euphoric era of “economic modernization” and the 2004 Olympic Games. The community’s choreography draws and comments on the opening ceremony of the Games, where mythological cupids and byzantine emperors marched together, providing an ideological condensation of “Hellenism.” Sklavenitis’s ethno-futurist world offers a metaphorical layer, an augmented platform designed to randomly host and present hobby groups and thematic societies found across contemporary Greece.

#self-ridicule #neo-tribal #dystopia #nationalism #cargocult #OlympicGames

Text from the Athens Biennale 2018 catalogue