Adonis Volanakis
Visual Artist
60 designers
57 projects
Born in 1976, he researched/studied at Wimbledon School of Art, Central Saint Martins, University of Art & Design Helsinki (currently Aalto University), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and New York University. His visual practice is a collaborative amalgam of fine and performing arts, human relationships and aesthetics, poetry and politics. Since 2003, his work focuses in herstories and since 2006 he facilitates blind date, a togethering collaborative platform. Adonis has created and presented installations, exhibitions, performances (in museums, foundations, galleries, theatres and alternative spaces) and has curated community-based public art projects in: USA, UK, Switzerland, Georgia, Greece, Canada, Finland, Czech Republic, Cyprus etc. Creating safe spaces for exchange and creativity is part of his artistic practice and since 2005 he has been teaching and/or researching nonstop in universities in Greece, France and the USA. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at Cyprus University of Technology. Foundations that have supported his work include Fulbright, Onassis, London Institute, Arts and Humanities Research Board/UK, B&E Goulandris, Propondis and Leventis. He is co-curator of the Greek entry in the Exhibition of Countries and Regions at the Prague Quadrennial 2023.
When I attend contemporary dance rehearsals, I enjoy drawing with Chinese ink: the swift paint-brush gestures document moments when bodies vibrate feverishly, even if they look nearly still. What happens when people assume nature forms? When bodies/beings become hills on a reverse course of the Anthropocene? For this performance, I created sculptures of soft materials worn by the performers to create spatial narratives as humans/ rocks while they form mountain ranges ruffled by their light movements. Then, they remove them to stay in white, pleated garments calling to mind ancient Greek columns, as well as Japanese garments. Rehearsals and performances during the pandemic made our meetings rarer, thus all the more essential. The distance between costumed bodies was often stressed by the desire to hug one another closer. Let us hug one another closer.
Concept – Choreography: Spyros Kouvaras
Expanded Scenography – Costume Design: Adonis Volanakis
Original Music: Giorgos Kouvaras
Lighting Design: Thomas Oikonomakos
Photos: Yiorgos Bakalis
When I attend contemporary dance rehearsals, I enjoy drawing with Chinese ink: the swift paint-brush gestures document moments when bodies vibrate feverishly, even if they look nearly still. What happens when people assume nature forms? When bodies/beings become hills on a reverse course of the Anthropocene? For this performance, I created sculptures of soft materials worn by the performers to create spatial narratives as humans/ rocks while they form mountain ranges ruffled by their light movements. Then, they remove them to stay in white, pleated garments calling to mind ancient Greek columns, as well as Japanese garments. Rehearsals and performances during the pandemic made our meetings rarer, thus all the more essential. The distance between costumed bodies was often stressed by the desire to hug one another closer. Let us hug one another closer.
Born in 1976, he researched/studied at Wimbledon School of Art, Central Saint Martins, University of Art & Design Helsinki (currently Aalto University), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and New York University. His visual practice is a collaborative amalgam of fine and performing arts, human relationships and aesthetics, poetry and politics. Since 2003, his work focuses in herstories and since 2006 he facilitates blind date, a togethering collaborative platform. Adonis has created and presented installations, exhibitions, performances (in museums, foundations, galleries, theatres and alternative spaces) and has curated community-based public art projects in: USA, UK, Switzerland, Georgia, Greece, Canada, Finland, Czech Republic, Cyprus etc. Creating safe spaces for exchange and creativity is part of his artistic practice and since 2005 he has been teaching and/or researching nonstop in universities in Greece, France and the USA. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at Cyprus University of Technology. Foundations that have supported his work include Fulbright, Onassis, London Institute, Arts and Humanities Research Board/UK, B&E Goulandris, Propondis and Leventis. He is co-curator of the Greek entry in the Exhibition of Countries and Regions at the Prague Quadrennial 2023.
Concept – Choreography: Spyros Kouvaras
Expanded Scenography – Costume Design: Adonis Volanakis
Original Music: Giorgos Kouvaras
Lighting Design: Thomas Oikonomakos
Photos: Yiorgos Bakalis
