Wednesday 22 August 2012

Nikos Georgopoulos, Research project submission / Unit 2 assessment (posted on 23/8/12)

My research project at Camberwell College of Arts is an enquiry into the concept of self-awareness -a state that one can gradually acquire through a journey of self-exploration. More specifically, the aim of this research is about communicating as well as exploring how such a concept translates into real life.

Some of the submitted work is included on the Degree show (noted here as included) and some of it isn't (noted here as not included). Yet, every project I am attaching hereto is to be considered as work elaborated within the Unit 2 and submitted in order to be assessed.

02. June 14, 2012 / web site (not included).
03. June 14, 2012 / catalogue (included).
04. June 14, 2012 / 3min. video (not included)
07. Invitation to a voyage / identity photographs -blog (included).
08. Written paper
09. Reflective Journal 
10. Blog


Nikos Georgopoulos,
London
August 2012

Research Project, 'Invitation to a voyage', participatory installation (posted on 22/8/12)

'Invitation to a voyage', interactive installation / mixed media; dimensions variable. Photo by N. Georgopoulos.


















Invitation to a voyage represents the final outcome of my research project and it is designed on the occasion of Camberwell College of Arts' MA Visual Arts 2012 Degree show. For the purpose of the Postgraduate Summer show, I revisited June 14, 2012 and decided to re-exhibit it or to re-run it if you like -since this project is based on people's participation and therefore it is a performance. On the basis that on June 14th the event was considered to be a success, I kept all the elements that worked and abolished any aspect of the project that did not work or I considered it to be unnecessary. What is more, because the context within which the installation has to work now is not as much time specific as it was on the 14th of June, but it is an Art School's 14-days period degree show I did the following:

1. Changed the title from June 14, 2012 -which is something time specific- to Invitation to a voyage -which is something more coherent and basic, that refers more directly to the concept of an existential journey and that is conceptually flexible enough so as to allow to the installation's framework to fit into a 1-day period exhibition scheme, 1-week, 2-weeks and so forth.

2. Instead of using a ready-made but still D.I.Y photo booth -as I did the previous time, I designed/constructed a physical manifestation that refers to the concept of a photo booth. By doing so, I could control the overall aesthetics and visual language of the installation as opposed to the other way round. What is more, even though it required more work that it would require if I were hiring a booth, it kept the cost considerably cheaper and my stress levels normal.

3. Instead of contacting the participants after the installation in order to interview them as I did for the June 14, 2012 catalogue, I came up with the flexible solution of the exhibition book -archive if you like, which is realised by a ready-made green Ring Binder carrying A4 photocopied writing forms. That said, participants could use them for completing the exact date of their performance -from the 5th of Sept. - 13th, the object that they chose as well as the reason why they considered that particular object a personal point of reference to who they are. In that respect, the interview is live, the writing is live and every 'element' contributes to the overall synthesis.

4. Because the visual framework of a degree show is more dominant than the framework of an individual project I did not have to design a web site. In that respect, I set up a tublr -an online platform that behaves as an online journal- and every day I am going to post the identity photographs of the people who participate in the performance.

In conclusion, my Degree show project is designed so that it can be considered as a workshop; performance; interactive installation; event within an event and so forth. All of the above are important and relevant because they presuppose their experience.

'Invitation to a voyage', exhibition book / green ring binder; photocopied paper; 21x29.7cm. Photo by N. Georgopoulos.   


















'Invitation to a voyage', exhibition book / green ring binder; photocopied paper; 21x29.7cm. Photo by N. Georgopoulos. 

'Invitation to a voyage', exhibition book / green ring binder; photocopied paper; 21x29.7cm. Photo by N. Georgopoulos. 

'Invitation to a voyage', installation's spatial study.  Design by N. Georgopoulos. 

















'Invitation to a voyage', composition process. Photo by Elaine Zhang. 



'Invitation to a voyage', composition process. Photo by Elaine Zhang. 
'Invitation to a voyage', preparatory drawings. Photo by N. Georgopoulos. 
'Invitation to a voyage', construction. Photo by N. Georgopoulos. 

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Research Project, 'June 14, 2012', Catalogue (posted on 21/8/12)

'June 14, 2012', Catalogue. Photo: N. Georgopoulos.



















The current publication has been designed as a follow up of the participatory installation June 14, 2012. The purpose for its production was to feature the participants' interviews -elaborating on why they chose a particular object- as well as the Identity photographs that they took while 'traversing' a metaphorical itinerary -suggested before them via the conceptual context of the Installation.

The design of the catalogue is inspired by the concept of Archiving within visual culture as well as by Year-books. The idea that its function is to include the aforementioned issues as a sequel of the context within which they have been produced (June 14, 2012) is deliberate and aims at reinforcing the concept of a journey.

The overall typographic approach of June 14, 2012 draws inspiration by bureaucratic documents and archival systems, hence the use of Times New Roman and Courier New as the official typefaces of the project. Times New Roman is considered to be a default typeface used for announcements posted within the context of a public service while Courier  is a contemporary digital version of the letters of a typewriter -a medium that is inextricably linked with the concept of Archiving.

'June 14, 2012', Catalogue. Photo: N. Georgopoulos.


















'June 14, 2012', Catalogue. Photo: N. Georgopoulos.






'June 14, 2012', Catalogue. Photo: N. Georgopoulos.
'June 14, 2012', Catalogue, 'Identity Photographs'. Photo: N. Georgopoulos.



















'June 14, 2012', Catalogue, 'Interviews'. Photo: N. Georgopoulos.

'June 14, 2012', Catalogue, 'objects'. Photo: N. Georgopoulos.

'June 14, 2012', Catalogue, 'objects'. Photo: N. Georgopoulos.

















































































Number of pages: 160 
Publication size: 20x27cm 
Paper Stock: Munken Pure 240gsm; Munken Pure 70 gsm; Blue glossy paper (ATH-GR); Magazine paper. 
Typefaces: Times New Roman; Courier New. 
Printed by: Online Reprographics; Thames Barrier Print Studio. 
Book binding by: Wyvern Bindery (Clerkenwell Road).


Nikos Georgopoulos
London,
August 2012.

Thursday 16 August 2012

Sara Cwynar, 'Accidental Archives', exhibition project, 2012. (posted on 16/8/12)

Sara Cwynar, 'Accidental Archives', 2012. Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto.



























Sara Cwynar (Vancouver, 1985) is a New York-based Graphic Designer and artist working in photography, book-making and digital media. She studied Graphic Design and Photography at York University and English at the University of British Columbia.

Having previously worked on the New York Times re-design she launched Accidental Archives, a personal project through which she ''... explores all the junk and souvenirs and photos we accumulate... also the collective body of photographs we see and understand in our culture.” Clearly influenced by the concept of Archiving within visual culture, she uses objects that she has been accumulating over the course of the past decade, she sorts them out by colour and photograph them as beautiful syntheses, producing thus, a series of somewhat eerie Still Lifes.

Cwynar's project is on show at the Cooper Cole Gallery in Toronto until the 18th of August, 2012. See more for this project here.


Nikos,
London
August 2012

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Truce. (posted on 8/8/12)


LONDON 2012, Olympic Logo. Designed by Wolff Olins. Print screen.

Klute, Typeface, 1997. Designed by Alias. Print screen.















LONDON 2012, Typeface. Designed by Alias. Print screen.


















LONDON 2012, Tickets. Designed by ---. Print screen.
















ATHENS 2004, Logo. Designed by Red Design Consultants. Print screen.






















Sydney 2000, Logo. Designed by ---. Print screen.

Beijing 2008, Logo. Designed by ---. Print screen.

Mexico 1968, Logo. Designed by Lance Wyman. Print screen.

Munich 1972, Event(-ually)'Logo'. Print screen.

Munich 1972, Pass. Print screen.