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Yorgos Sapountzis

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Yeti-lines, 2006
Video, duration 4 min
The music is by "PSYCHO MAFIA"

More images: www.artnews.org/yorgossapountzis

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NIGHTLY

What is left from the things and man’s actions is transfused within the city’s particular space, which, like an image of the most personal and individual reading of all that that takes place in its urban landscape, refers to the common belief that man’s different universes are inexorably interwoven in a way that redefines the categories and the notions that they contain. Urban space is already marked by that which in the common conscience is in progress and whose imprint signals the identification of the individual with its space. What is exhibited as a public “good” and disseminates itself as a socially charged, collective memory, reintroduces itself in the form of a return and becomes the most intimate experience of personal significance. This act transposed in the notion of art (public art), whose ritual texture re-baptizes the categories of the things as well as man’s identity (both the individual and the communal), embodies through juxtaposition rather than transgression the continuous oscillation of the boundaries. For transgression is always another form of utopia that is never certain whether it will be realized or not.

The urban memorials and statues represent not just the refined need of public expression that systematizes the space it occupies. Rather they acquire the qualities of that particular urban space in which a more immediate necessity develops next to the individual body that communes, assimilates and in general renders these memorials as an indispensable part of its own ritual. In this case the role of art does not only reflect a mere presence that defines this process from its observatory. On the contrary, art stirs up in its own transformations these dynamics inherent in the individual subconscious, which makes up a certain kind of equilibrium whose result, nevertheless, is impossible to predict. Moreover the element of night, at the same time the space where the game of boundaries is discussed and the time that reveals the changing motion of those boundaries, becomes from its very beginning the anthropological element which like a blow or breathing banks on its particular texture. Thus substantiated, the nocturnal walk in the urban space does not represent a sensorial stimulation; it also brings forth the subjective and impulsive components which, by unnailing the petit-bourgeois concept of a communal aesthetics that exorcises the burden of responsibility, they are identified again with their conflictual grounds.

Antonis Mpogadakis for the solo show in gazonrouge

Art’s Struggle

If there is a common thread running through my work then this could be the aesthetic engagement with damaged objectivity. The more our cultures deny to objects any significance, other than serving as fodder for established abstract-rational procedures, the more the social need for objects rages, becomes insatiable. My interest in kitsch, in this respect, lies in that such a category simultaneously indexes a need that cannot be satisfied and serves as a tool of the falsification of such need, pretends it can satisfy it. Kitsch, thus, represents something that is denied and serves as the form of its denial. That “something” is what society both craves for and denies to itself: enchanted objects.
Kitsch applies not only to the domestic realm, the little objects found in every glass cabinet, but spreads to public monuments where it takes its more ominous form. Most public monuments stand for an aesthetic relation to a past, a form of immediate transmission of events, and the connection of generations, taking for granted both. Public monuments that celebrate rather than reflectively undercut the culture that makes them possible, suppress the very question of memory, the very question they were supposed to raise. This is where my artistic interventions take place. I want to force such monuments to show their hand; rather than stand as objects, bearers of a common memory, I want to show them as artifices without an audience, artifices that belong to a structure that cannot lay claim to a common memory. It is not their character as artifices (forms of human making) that is criticised, far from it, but the fact that such monuments legitimate the unreflective engagement with the life-world. Art’s struggle, I submit, cannot take place as a carefree production of new forms. Burdened by the triumph of unreflectiveness art can only bust open the forms of such unreflectiveness. My projects take their orientation from this conviction which makes me think that new aesthetic forms can only be produced as mute inabilities, aborted promises. Artistic impotence is the result of the continuing domination of unreflective structures and their monopoly over the articulation of the life world. My commitments, in this respect, are with forcing reflection upon unreflective forms.
Yorgos Sapountzis
with the collaboration of
Harry Marandi

The artistic universe representing
Yorgos Sapountzis contemplates a permanent transit between the form as his main goal and the message as his last goal. The primary mission of this transit is to develop the movement that will probably put an end to the limits concerning private and public places. Along that path -mainly in two of his videos-, the author can either become an living piece of art (knock knock monument) or feel happy when he intrudes on someone else’s property (night life).
Due to his interest in the exemplary form, the performance offered by Sapountzis tries to explain Tony Cragg’s works. Along that inner journey concerning different artist’s works, Sapountzis seeks a form with a previous existence, but he does not succeed. Therefore, there is a double lack: on the one hand, that different artist as his main arts topic and on the other hand, his own arts attempt. To sum up, Sapountzis confirms his sarcastic attitude regarding arts success.

Miguel von Hafe Perez David G. Torres curators: 28 biennale Pontevedra

Yorgos Sapountzis

1976 born in Athens, Greece

Lives and works in Berlin, Germany

Education

2002-04
Berlin University of the Arts, in the studio of Rebecca Horn
1998-02
Athens School of Fine Art, in the studio of George Lappas
1995-98
University Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art, Athens

Solo Exhibitions

2010 Pre-Bellevue, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC), Leon, Spain
2009 Horizon Drop, Hermes und der Pfau, Stuttgart, Germany *)
MENSCHEN TIERE SENSATIONEN ancient vagrancy appolonian futurism, Yorgos Sapountzis / Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Arnsberg, Germany
2008 ART BASEL 2008, STATEMENT with Loraini Alimantiri Gazonrouge, Basel, Switzerland
2006 Forgotten Tactics, Gallery Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin, Germany
2005 Nightly, Loraini Alimantiri Gazonrouge, Athens, Greece

Group Exhibitions

2009 Scorpio’s Garden, (curated by Kirstine Roepstorff), Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin, Berlin, Germany *)
Plan B. Contemporary greek artists from the Beltsios’ collection, DYNAMO project space, Thessaloniki, Greece
Souterrain, Sammlung Hoffmann, Berlin Mitte, Germany
6th DESTE Prize, DESTE Foundation, at the Museum of Cycladic Art Athens, Greece *)
Ataxies. Contemporary greek artists from the Beltsio’s collection, Margari Foundation / Beltsios Collection, Amfilohia, Greece
Contour 2009: The 4th Biennial of the Moving Image, (curated by Katerina Gregos), Mechelen, Brussels, Belgium *)

I was lookin' back to see if you were lookin' back at me to see me lookin' back at you, REMAPkm 2, Loraini Alimantiri Gazonrouge, Athens, Greece
2008 Social Diagrams. Planning reconsidered, (curated by Jesko Fezer and Axel John Wieder), Kuenstlerhaus Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Athensville, Art Athina, (curated by Marina Fokidis), Athens, Greece
Mariano Pichler Collection, Leftovers, (selected by Luca Cerizza and Jennifer Chert), Micamoca, Berlin, Germany
Common View, (curated by Eleni Koukou and Ghislaine Dantan), National Theatre, Athens, Greece
2007 In Present Tense, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece *)
UP TO, AND INCLUDING THE LIMITS, (curated by Katerina Gregos), Media Lounge, ARGOS, Brussels, Belgium
Contemporary art in Greece through the collections of the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, (curated by Denis Zaharopoulos), Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
House Trip, special exhibition, (curated by Ami Barak), Art Forum Berlin, Berlin, Germany
1st Athens Biennale, Destroy Athens, (curated by Xenia Kalpakstoglou, Poka Yio, Augustine Zenakos), Athens, Greece *)
The Tree Bring Forth Sweet Ecstasy, (curated by Caroline Eggel and Christiane Rekade), Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel, Switzerland
Supernova, (curated by Yiannis Toumazis), The Old Powerhouse, Nicosia, Cyprus *)
her(his)story, (curated by Marina Fokidis), Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Greece,
Who is Here?, (curated by Dennys Zacharopoulos), Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece
TOPOS: Engonopoulos, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece
Believers & Illusionists R. T. Hansen, (curated by Lars Morell), Gormannstrasse 19 A, Berlin, Germnay
CROSSINGS, (curated by Yiannis Toumazis and Androula Michael), NIMAC, Nicosia, Cyprus
2006 Für die Ewigkeit, Was Wäre Wenn #6, Jet, Berlin, Germany *)
Urban Appearances, Rosa-Luxemburg-Str, Berlin, Germany
Contemporary, Magazzio d’arte, Rome, Italy
100 Tage = 100 Videos, Kunstverein Heidelberg (10 videos selected by Anne-Catharina Gebbers), Heidelberg, Germany
MIND GAMES (The Art of Video Games), Α London Games Festival Fringe Event, (curated by Gyonata Bonvicini and David Gryn), London, UK
Crossing - a contemporary view , Fort St Angelo-Malta, Malta
An outing: Beltsios Collection, Matsopoulos Mill, Trikala, Greece *)
Arrivals-Albania, Vangjush Mio, Korista, Albania
Crivelli’s Nail, Chapter Gallery, Cardiff, U.K.
Nikos Alexiou Collection, Mac Gallery, XXXII International Festival Sarajevo, Sarajevo

What Remains is Future, Patras, Cultural Capital of Europe, (curated by Nadja Argyropoulou), Patra, Greece *)
BLACK AND WHITE, American Hellenic Union, Athens, Greece
GREEN NIGHT, Espace Croisé, Roubaix cedex, France
2005 THE GESTURE. A VISUAL LIBRARY IN PROGRESS, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece *)
Quarter, Center for Contemporary Art, Florence, Italy *)
THE MIND IS A HORSE (Part 2) Bloomberg SPACE, London, UK
LANDMARKS, Gallery Chantal Crousel, Paris, France
VISIONS, Athens Imperial Hotel, Athens, Greece *)
2004 Videozone 2, The 2nd International Video Biennial Tel Aviv, Israel *)
Plain Sight, Bloomberg SPACE, London, UK *)
Berliner Zimmer, Actionfield Kodra, Kodra former military camp, Thessaloniki, Greece
In the beginning there was the journey, 28 BIENNAL OF PONTEVEDRA Pontevedra, Spain *)
THE SNEEZE 80x80, Loraini Alimantiri Gazonrouge, Athens, Greece *)
Roads ans Roots, Gallery Kunst im Heppächer. Esslingen, Germany
Breakthrough! GRECIA 2004: Contemporary Perspectives in the Visual Arts ARCO, Madrid, Spain *)
2003 A DOG NAMED GARAGE - FIRST COLLECTION (concert with video, music by Øyvind Torvund), Oslo Sinfonietta, Oslo, Norway
SCOPE, Dylan hotel New York, New York, USA
2002 Holy Spirits, Galerie Wieland, Berlin, Germany
SEEING IS BELIEVING, Loraini Alimantiri Gazonrouge, Athens, Greece
2001 Auras and Avatars, 1st Public School of Hydra, Hydra, Greece*)
Beyond Origin, American Hellenic Union, Athens, Greece *)
Photography as Art as Language, American Hellenic Union, Athens, Greece

*) a catalogue has followed the exhibition

Projects

SELECTED PERFORMANCES

2009 Schalen der Zeit / Ist das Jetzt Zeit? (Shells of time / Is the Now time?, 15. Internationale Schillertage, Mannheim, Germany
2008 After Electricity - Forth, ART BASEL STATEMENTS, Basel, Switzerland
After Electricity - from the life of the people, (curated by Luca Cerizza and Jennifer Chert), Micamoca, Berlin, Germany
After Electricity - the festival, National Theater, Athens, Greece
2007 After Electricity - the remains of a start, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece
Sculpture Garden, June 2007, The Tree Bring Forth Sweet Ecstasy 1, (curated by Caroline Eggel and Christiane Rekade), Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel, Switzerland
2006 No Spaghetti Editon, (music Øyvind Torvund), Stavanger, Norway
Around the Clock, liste Artfair with Isabella Bortolozzi gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2005 FICUS-FLORENCE, The gesture, Quarter, Florence, Italy
Architecture- Thessaloniki, Protaseis (Version IV:935m), Thessaloniki, Greece
3 times tragic, 7 PERFORMANCES & A CONVERSATION, Athens, Greece *)
2004 West, Loewenpalais, Berlin, Germany
LECTURE/Cragg class (music by Øyvind Torvund), Pontevedra, Spain
einschlafen (falling asleep), Lange Nacht Museum, Museum of Communication, Berlin, Germany

Bibliography

2008 Fotini Barka, ‘Storm’ at Pedion tou Areos, Eleftherotypia, 21.03.2008
Giota Argyropoulou, H nea kallitexnikh skhnh, neoellhnikes h neoeuropaikes taseis, Athens Voice, 10.01.2008
2007 Jennifer Higgie, Her( His)toy, Frieze, November/December 2007,
Focus Greece, Flash Art, October 07., p. 86-105
Jennifer Allen, «FUR DIE EWIGKEIT», Artforum, January 2007
2006 Christiane Rekade, For Eternity, Flash Art, November/December, 2006, p.51
Astrid Mania, «FUR DIE EWIGKEIT», Echte Scheingefechte, Artnet, 17.10.06
Augustine Zenakos, TECHNO…LOGY, BLACK AND WHITES, VIMAgazino, 19.02.2006, n.279, page.19
2005 Despina Zefkili, Visions at Grecotel Athens Imperial, Check in Hype, Athinorama
Hari Marandi, Yorgos Sapountzis, Art’s Struggle, Local Folk, number 3, September 2005
Augustine Zenakos, ‘The gesture’ in Thessaloniki, To allo Vima, 24.07.2005, page.29.
Despina Zefkili, Distilling the collectors…, Athinorama, 12.05.2005
Par Xavier Testot, Land marks, www.paris-art.com, 2005
2004 Martin Coomer, “Plain Sight”, Bloomberg Space East End, Timeout London, November 17.10.2004
Fisun Guner, The power of the People, Art Review Plain Sight, Metro 05.10.2004
Pavlos Kappa, Video Zone 2, Time Out Athens, issue 91, 2004

Links

www.bortolozzi.com
www.gazonrouge.com

Yorgos Sapountzis

yorgos@gmx.de
ISABELLA BORTOLOZZI Galerie
Schillingstrasse 31 / 10179 Berlin
Tel. + 49 . 30 . 97 00 47 99 / Fax. + 49 . 30 . 30 88 25 58
info@bortolozzi.com / www.bortolozzi.com

GAZONROUGE
15 Viktoros Hugo,
Athens 104 37,
greece
tel. +30 210 5248077
info@gazonrouge.com
www.gazonrouge.com

yorgos@gmx.de