© Panos Sklavenitis. All Rights Reserved.

South

South - Thoughts on a European Geography of Over and Under

HDV, 11 min 3 sec, 2016

 

Dr. Iordanis Hajiyavusoglu, an invented persona assumed by author Eleftherios Keramidas, argues that "the North is actually, truly, really and unavoidably superior to the South in every regard"!
"Let’s take a look at a map of Europe: Left equals West, right equals East. And what is most important here: North is up, South is down. North equals over, South equals under. We have established that. Now let us expand on it, let’s track the connotations of over/up/above and under/down/below. The first group of concepts is always used in a positive manner, while the second is strictly negative. We say “over/up/above” and “under/down/below” to compare, to mean “better” and “worse”. Anything from the way a country’s economy is trending to the average level of education in a geographic area.
[...]
The way that we read maps is the way we understand the world and our place within its bounds. Moreover, believing that something holds true makes it true (for us). Reality is the result of mental effort to comprehend. ‘Intelligible’ is equivalent to ‘real’. Male erection provides a good example. Contemplate what ‘high’ and ‘low’ spirits corresponds to in the physical plane."

'South' is part of the ongoing project 'The Poem Begins With The Unloving Sun' by Panos Sklavenitis.
Text: Panos Sklavenitis
Video Performance: Eleftherios Keramidas

Presentations:
Panteion University, Department of Anthropology, Athens, Greece, 2016.
In the context of ‘The Soft Power Lectures (5/6)' by PAT / Temporary Academy of Arts.
Basketball Court, Panteion University, Neos Kosmos, Athens, Greece, 2016.
In the context of Actopolis Athens // PAT - 'The Soft Power Lectures Show' curated by Elpida Karaba and Glykeria Stathopoulou.
A politics of lies, Circuits and Currents, Athens, 2016. Curated by Kostis Stafylakis.
Athens@Memphis Artist talks, Memphis, Linz, Austria, 2017.
TwixtLab, Athens, Greece, 2017In the context of the 'Subjectivities, art, politics' event, organised by the team of the international research project 'Learning from Documenta'. 

An excerpt of 'South' was presented
- in the context of ‘The Soft Power Lectures (2/6) - Interviews’, a series of performative interviews by PAT / Temporary Academy of Arts
- during curator Elpida Karaba's talk in the context of 'Synapse 2: Rethinking Institutional Critique – A view From the South' organized by the Athens Biennale 2016-2017 'Omonoia'.
- in the context of AB5to6 at the performance 'Babuna Enterprise: Perspectives more Southern than the Southern ones' by artist Persefoni Myrtsou.
- by Persefoni Myrtsou, at Heimathafen theatre in Berlin Neukolln in the framework of the event 'Can we rescue the European idea' organised by the 'Geht auch anders' and 'European Alternatives' initiatives
- by Persefoni Myrtsou, at the Institut fur Europaische Ethnologie, Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin in the context of the "Mobilitat_Migration_Gesellschaft. Umkampfte Politiken der Klassifikation" event.

< >