This is not a Mask
3D Object - Apparatus 2019
Man resides both in the outer, real environment, and in the inner subjective world of the mind. There are often times when it is difficult to focus on his surroundings, the environment in which he lives in, as he is overwhelmed by individual thoughts. Inspired by the practices of the Situationists, the concept of heterotopia, and the philosophical positions around the relationship of the ego with the other, a game of exploration is constructed. A state of balance between the real and the imaginary. A heterotopia. A bridge between the individual and the city. It is about creating a shell, a mask that is supposed to restrict / delimit the senses by immersing the user in the present. The subject is required to wear the mask, which integrates it into a process of inclusion and self-assembly. This act is a starting point for reflection and an opportunity to distance and activate the look in a different way. The mask shell has an opening that defines optical vents in the surrounding area. At the same time, an accessory is mounted on the aperture that either allows the two masks to be connected together or separately enables the technology to be integrated, which makes the viewing experience different. The transition from the physical perspective to the artificial is facilitated. Another world is born, based on a programmatic illusion. The cellphone placed in the aperture captures the relation of things to the minimum surface of the screen, depicts them on it, scaling them, trapping them in its space. A space within reality, one defined by the mask, a utopia that becomes reality, a heterotopia. Desiring the experimental implementation of the proposal in the urban environment, a part of the New Waterfront of Thessaloniki is being studied. Masks accessible to all pedestrians are placed on the glass pavilions in the gardens of the Sculptures, Mediterranean and Seasons. The passer-by is transformed into an active explorer of the landscape and in the context of a new condition of space and time is called upon to define the reality in which he is.
Collaborators: Krystallia Klonara, Petroula Georgiadou