18th September - 18th December, Thessaloniki
Athanasios Argianas
Born (1976) in Athens. He studied (BA Painting) at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (1994-97), at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Professor Jannis Kounelis) (1999-2000), at the Byam School of Art, London (BA Fine Art, 2002-03), and at the Goldsmiths College, London (MA Fine Art, 2004-05). He lives and works in the UK. Athanasios Argianas’ practice spans diverse media and formats and looks at a wide range of cultural references. His works are centered on questions on music, language, non-linear time and memory, and on a core concern about how we process and record information. Characterized by series and re-workings, Argianas’ practice builds on a methodology of continuous translation of forms and media into one another. Recent solo exhibitions: Of The Length Of Your Arms Unfolded (performance and installation), The Barbican Art Gallery, The Barbican Centre (London, 2011); The length of a piece of string cut at the width of its circumference, The Breeder (Athens, 2011); Art Nova, (with Pavel Buchler), Art Basel Miami (Florida, 2010); The Length Of A Strand of Your Hair, Of The Width Of Your Arms, Unfolded, National Museum of Contemporary Art-EMST (Athens, 2010); Until full stops look like s tars, From where you stand, Max Wigram Gallery (London, 2009); Arco Solo Projects, Arco (Madrid, 2009); We All Turn This Way, (with Nick Laessing), Serpentine Gallery Pavillion, The Serpentine Gallery, (London, 2008). Recent group exhibitions: Art Now Live, Tate Britain (London, 2011); Recent British Sculpture, Grimm Fine Arts (Amsterdam, 2010); DESTE Prize, Museum of Cycladic Art (Athens, 2009); For The Straight Way Is Lost, Athens Biennial 2 (Athens, 2009); Manifesto Marathon, Serpentine Gallery Pavilion (London, 2008).
Song Machine 19 (the length of the a strand of your hair of the width of
your arms, unfolded...) is a development of Argianas’s previous Song
Machine projects in which sculptural objects carry text and form, open proposals for the composition of songs. According to the performative aspect of Song Machine 19, the proposed function of a Song Machine is realized/used as a score and translated into a piece of live music.
Constructed from brass and steel, the sculpture consists of a long thin ribbon of brass that drapes elegantly across a forest of thin steel supports. The brass loops generously and curves under its own weight like spinning silk. A closer look reveals a text written by Argianas, etched upon the brass, juxtaposing parts of the body, objects or animals, describing length and width: “The length of a strand of your hair, the length of a shoelace … of the width of a coral snake curled up”.
The accompanying performance involves three people singing the etched text while moving independently around the work. As the text repeats and overlaps it gives the impression of a traditional canon -the different voice types add a sculptural view of the sound and render the fusion between the sculpture and vocal performance as a harmonic construction.
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