PHOTOS OF PERFORMANCE WORK

POWERLESS SUPERMARKET, LONDON, UK, 2010

MATLAKAS EMTYOUT THE SHELVES OF THE SUPERMARKET IN ORDER TO EXPLORE THE LIMIT OF OUR HABITS AND RAISE

CONSCIOUSNESS OF HOWMUCH WE DEPEND BY THIS BIG SUPERMARKETS AND HOW WE DO EXPECT TO FIND WHAT WE

WANT At ALL THE TIME.

Heimatobstruction, Shybuya, tokyo Japan, 2015

filmed by Tomomi Kosano

PERFORMANCE PHOTOS

SWEET THORN,

DURATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN CAPE TOWN,

SA, 2015

CURATED BY ANIS DARAGHMA

PHOTO BY THAKIRA DESAI

Walking in barbed wire represents the fact that everything can be taken but our essence will be impossible to be possessed by others and that although we can have a loss of property or objects, there will always be growth afterwords.

The idea of “Sweet thorn” Emerged from my tour to Palestine and South Africa and developed at IPSA (Institute of Palestine in South Africa).

Sweet Thorn, is inspired by the sound of “sweet sweet home”, in this case the home is my own body, the essence of my soul that can’t be taken by anyone.

“Sweet Thorn” does not only refers to Palestine but to all the refugees and people who who found themselves displaced, forced to move to temporary areas.

But also “Sweet Thorn” refers to occupation. A thorn can be painful but after and during pain there is always progressive life.

IDEM QUOD, DOCUMENTED BY SHIN DO WON, GWANGJU, KOREA, 2014

IT IS PERFORMED IN OCCASION OF "SWEET DEW, GWANGJU BIENNALE, 2014, KOREA.

CURATED BY PARK KYEONG HWA AND GIM GWANG CHEOL.

IDEM QUOD IS A PERFOMANCE/MEMORIAL OF THE GWANGJU UPRISING IN 1980.

ANY STRUGGLE IS INTERNATIONAL BECAUSE IT BELONGS TO HUMAN NATURE.

IDEM QUOD STARTS WITH A DANCE PIECE (BODUWEATHER). AND IT ENDS WITH POSITIONING PLASTIC SOLDIERS ON THE KEYS OF A PIANO A CODA TO THEN CREATE A DRAMATIC BUT AT THE SAME TIME POETIC/HEAILING SOUND.

TIME IS CHANGING, HUMANITY IS LEARNING ALTHOUGH IT IS SEEMINGLY MAKING THE SAME MISTAKES OVER AND OVER AGAIN, FROM COUNTRY TO ANOTHER.

THE PATRIOT, DOCUMENTED BY PIPO DOMAGAS, GWANGJU, KOREA 2014.

MATLAKAS, IN OCCASION OF HIS FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION IN KOREA (PEACE AND FEROCITY) AT THE LA FRESCO RESTAURANT IN GWANGJU, KOREA, CREATES:"THE PATRIOT".

THE PATRIOT IS A CRITIC THAT GOES AGAINST PATRIOTTISM AND COLONIALIZATION.

MATLAKAS CREATES A PARODY OF A PATRIOT FROM ITALY WHO GOES TO THE GWANGJU BIENNAL AND TRANSFORM IT INTO THE POPULAR VENICE BIENNALE.

NOSTALGIA, DOCUMENTATED BY POWEL JALKUSKY, LONDON UK 2014

NOSTALGIA IS A WORK ABOUT IDENTITY, THE PERFORMER EXPLORES HOIS TOUGH CHILDHOOD ERASING HIS BAD MEMORIES WITH A CALM AND SLOW FINAL DANCE.

PHOTO BY KIM BAEKKI, JEJU ISLAND, KOREA, 2014.

THIS IS A TRIO IMPROVISATION WITH THE TWO MEMEBERS OF THE PHYSICAL POETS: KINKI AND RAMOOHONG.

THIS IMPROVISATION WAS MADE IN OCCASION OF THE JEJU JAZZA FESTIVAL IN 2014.

GUERRILLA PERFORMANCE IN GWANGJU, KOREA, 2014 IN GWANGJU BIENNALE 2014.

MATLAKAS JOINED THE GROUP "NON GRATA" PERFOMING IN THIS PICTURE WITH MR.LEE, A "NON GRATA" MEMBER.

THIS IS A COLLABORATION MADE IN OCCASION OF GWANGJU BIENNALE, SWEET DEW 2014

DOCUMENTATION BY JINJI LEE

MATLAKAS AND POLISH ARTIST ARTI GRABOWSKI PUT THEIR STRENGHT TOGETHER IMPROVISING A PERFORMANCE IN ONE OF THE MAIN SQUUARES OF GWANGJU DURING THE GWANGJU BIENNALE, 2014, KOREA.

THIS IS A COLLABORATION MADE IN OCCASION OF GWANGJU BIENNALE, SWEET DEW 2014

DRAWING THE LINE, DOCUMENTED BU JIAJU ZHANG, BEIJING, 2014.

DRAWING THE LINE WAS PERFORMED IN KOREA AND CHINA. ABOVE PICTURES OF THE ACTION MADE IN GULAO AREA IN BEIJING.

THE PERFORMANCE PONDERS ON THINKING ABOUT THE DICHOTOMY THAT EXISTS IN SUCH A BIG CITY WHERE TRADITION AT LEAST APPARENTLY IS DISAPPEARING TO GIVE SPACE TO NEW BUILDINGS AND TECHNOLOGIES BUT SLOWLY FORGETTING ABOUT THEIR INCREDIBLE PAST. BY WALKING WITH THREE STICKS ALIGNED HORIZONTALLY THE PERFORMANCE MAKES CHOOSE THE PEOPLE WHO ENCOUNTERS TO STOP OR GO BEYOND THE OBSTACLE. THAT OBSTACLE IS JUST A METAPHORE TO HUMAN THINKING, THE OBSTACLE IS ONLY IN OUR MINDS.

SUB SPECIE AETERNITAS, DOCUMENTED BY JINJI LEE IN GWANGJU, 2014, IN OCCASION OF FREE EXPRESSION CURATED BY GIM GWANG CHEOL, KOREA. PERFORMED WITH CELLO PLAYER JOHEE LOHMOLLER.

THIS PERFORMANCE IS A COLLECTIVE EXPLORATION OF THE HEART PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE SKY? DOCUMENTED BY CHANG HOO HAHM AND JOHEE LOHMOLLER, SEOUL, KOREA, 2014.

PONDERING ON THE FACT THAT SOUTH AND NORTH KOREA ARE TWO DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AT THE MOMENT.

THIS ACTION INVOLVES THE PASSENGER OF THE SEOUL'S TUBE TO INSTALL 600 ORIGAMI CRANES.

THIS FLASH MOB IS A MESSAGE TO THE TRAVELLERS TO TRAVEL BEYOND WITHOUT BORDERS SINCE WE ARE CITIZENS OF THE PLANET AND WE CAN AT LEAST FREE OUR IMAGINATION.

EACH CRANE HAD WRITTEN ON A DIFFERENT MESSAGE.

INSIGHTS, LONDON 2013/MOSCOW 2010,

Insights is a research about the relation of two bodies exploring breath as a shared need and connection in a geometrical system of figures. The performers are attached to nylon strings in order to play with the tension and a third body is created in between.

The performance starts with the unison of two bodies one behind the other. Slowly they separate and translate their figures beside each other to tune their connection with themselves and the pub- lic. An imaginary axis divides the two performers and they rotate on that hinge until they face each other.

On the outline of their bodies (located on specific points; see sketch on the right ) 16 nylon strings, 3

metres long are attached by a specific

transparent glue, suitable for the skin.

Both are linked and move reflecting e- ach other forming an equivalent (See picture n. 1). Stepping backwards the 16 strings will start to straighten until they slowly get into tension:

In physics, tension is the magnitude of

the pulling force exerted by a string, or

similar object on another object. It is the

opposite of compression. Tension is

measured in relation to the string on

which it applies. There are two basic

possibilities for objects to be held by

strings in a system. Either movement is constant and the system is therefore in equilibrium or there is acceleration and therefore a net force is present.

The two performers and the strings are the system that is in equilibrium when the bodies are diaphanous, communicating. This re-

quires listening and coordinating impulses to operate in unison. The strings of nylon are a visible connection, like cables that

transmit information. The glue links the strings to the skin, the surface of the body. The in- and out- breath is communicating vividly.

DEPTH AND SURFACE, OSLO, NORWAY, 2013

Working the earth, opening the soil, extracting the roots of old trees that were the patrons of that earth's patch I was working on.

Extracting the roots has been actually a very important moment for me, it became a psycho-magic act. The action of hoe the ground, felt like destroying the soil but it was actually liberating it from all the dead roots inside it. While digging I noticed a great world in the earth I was sectioning; warms, different species of insects all cooperating for the soil's moisture and effectivesness...I was somehow bringing to light what is happening under the earth. For a couple of hours I have been a killer and invasor, but I could have not have done it differently. Opening the soil was needed and liberating it in order to give it a new life was essential. The physical action itself was as usual at my disposal because a certain happening in my life. I used the tools I found randomly to explore my anger and playfulness. Being angry is great when we are inside ourselves and transcend, but greater when we are in action. In that case my action was not detached from my feeling but rather It was full of emotion because its psycho-magic nature. Unfortunately that makes me think that when we act out of strong emotions we become selfish. In my case not hurting anyone but yes, hurting the creatures living in the earth for my own work. That work is usually performed when planting vegetables, in order to create new lives that will be destroyed again because our human nature. Everything is in continuous transformation and my anger in fact ended up to become a playful bouncing on earth with a physioball. So when digging the earth I was aggressive with the earth but when I bounced I was actually repairing the earth with some care. I was bringing it back in, in a soft way. In that case I played a sarcastic role. My act of liberation finished with stroking the earth with some playfulness. After anger cannot continue anger, otherwise there will be sickness. Things change and after anger came naturally playfulness, softness.

LECTURE AT NCCA, NATIONAL CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART IN ST. PETERSBURG, 2013.

AFTER HIS RESIDENCY IN KRONSTADT MATLAKAS IS INVITED TO GIVE A LECTURE AT PRO ARTE, ORGANIZED BY NCCA. THE ARTIST TALKS ABOUT HIS INTEREST FOR THE THEORY OF ROUGHNESS BY B. MANDELBROT COMPARING IT TO CERTAIN STAGE WITNESSED IN MEDITATION.

IDEM QUOD, ST. PETERSBURG, 2013, RUSSIA

FIRST EXPERIMENTATION

ATELIER N. 4 AT OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY, 2014, UK.

Individually a member of the audience will enter a room where she/he will talk about the path they have chosen; I will put on disposal 4 paths and each person will choose one of them before entering the room. Each discussion will be private but indirectly public, since the discussion will be relayed outside the room, giving the audience a certain familiarity with what will happen inside. Anyone through any door she/he chooses, can get to the core of every dialog, that core is the truth (As truth I mean the connection of every human on earth and a deep understanding of who we really are).

The idea came from having doors or pathways from where someone enters to find their own clear understanding of how life on earth works and what it is needed for it. The doors will be represented by four cards (business card format) with a door drawing on them and the name of the pathway chosen. The doors chosen are four, like the 4 cardinal points (reference of direction, the direction or path taken).

Each door represents a topic, a dialog at least beginning with the subject chosen. The topic chosen after careful consideration are: -God -Death -Equality -Freedom

God is believed because our limited life on earth, he wants us equal and free. I want to be able to touch these topics from any point of view. The conversation will be just as ephemeral as any conversation on earth but they always teach us something that perhaps we will forget for a moment but that will be sow seeded on our deepest level. Atelier n.4 is a home for conversation where with each member of the audience I will sculpt a conversation create a new understanding hopefully of our limited point of view, to make discussions as something that can be sculptured malleable, change as a sculpture to find its perfection, its Renaissance in this contemporary and chaotic but at the same time brilliant society, where we can make use of our consciousness, where opening our eyes is exciting because understanding feeds us and make us rich inside.  N.4 because the 4 doors to choose from (which on my point of view will merge into the same point, but that will see)., atelier because it is a place for creation. Physically at the end of the 4/5 days conversation I will have a collection of photos with me and each individual and the middle table will be completely covered with thumb print of each person creating a large scale canvas that will contain collectively each individual genetic, unique reference. It is far from police kind of identification since this is something to highlight our individuality in the collectiveness but at the same time highlighting the fact that we all live on the same earth (the thumb print on same canvas). The earth was pure at the beginning, such as the white canvas, it was touched by mankind in some cases misunderstood by individuals but some other times saved by others.  The process is a question mark, the outcome will be as it is suppose to be…imperfect.

 Disposition:

One speaker will be positioned just outside atelier N.4 and another one a little bit far from it.

Outside the room: People will be invited through written text to listen to the audio Instruction (the instruction will tell audience to chose a theme so to take a card and enter the room with the topic they have chosen).

Inside the room: They will be asked to print their thumb onto a big white table (covered by a canvas), this will highlight their unique genetic identity. Once they seat in front of me within 2.50 metres distance I will ask them to go ahead of explaining the reason of their choice so that the conversation in between me and a member of the audience can begin. The conversation has unlimited time, audience will have to ring a bell when they have enough, I will also ring a bell when it is enough for myself.  At the end of the session each individual will be asked to take a picture side by side with me looking straight into the camera. The reason is because I would like to record their identity combined with mine and perhaps grasp through our eyes the depth of our conversation or connection in relation to each other.

At the end of each day:

I will print out all the pictures taken with each individual and install them outside the room. In each picture there will be myself next to 1 person who I had the conversation with, with written the time frame of our conversation underneath it.

BEYOND THE VEIL, DURATIONAL PERFORMANCE (5DAYS).

THIS IS AN EXPLORATION OF IDENTITY AND CUSTOMS. THE 5 DAYS PERFORMANCE WEARING A BURQA WAS A TOUGH ONE.

MATLAKAS AND ANTHROPOLOGIST CARLO ANGELI EXPLORE THE TOPIC IN AN INTERVIEW THAT SUMMERIZES THE DURATIONAL EXPERINECE.

SEAGULL CHASE, INLE LAKE, BURMA, 2013.

MATLAKAS WORKS WITH SEAGULLS CREATING A CERTAIN CHOREOGRAPHY TOGETHER WITH THE VOLATILES. HE ASLO WITNESS HOW MAN AND ANIMALS ARE CONNECTED TO EACHOTHER AND THAT WE CAN WORK TOGETHER TOWARDS A BETTER WORLD RATHER THEN FIGHTING TO EACHOTHER.

INSIGHTS UNAIDED, DOOMED GALLERY, DALSTON, LONDON.

THIS PERFORMANCE EXPLORES THE HUMAN CONNECTION AND DISCONNECTIONS THAT ALL ENDS AND START IN THE SAME PLACE. DOCUMENTATED BY ANNALISA GIORDANO AND YURI PIRONDI.

HEIMATOBSTRUCTION AT LOUVRE, DOCUMENTED BY SAVIO DE BERNARDIS IN COLLABORATION WITH MANUELA CENTRONE, PARIS, FRANCE, 2013.

GOING TO THE LOUVRE, BLOWING BALLOONS IN THE MIDDLE OF TWO ICONIC PYRAMIDS WAS SOMETHING I HAD IN MIND FOR YEARS, USING THAT EMPTY SPACE, FILLING IT UP CREATING A BOMB SOUND.