Inside the Artists Studio: Dafni E.

Barbageorgopoulou, Athens | Art21 Blog

1/13/13 8:14 PM

HOME

GUEST BLOG

EDUCATION

VIDEO

NEW COLUMN!: Inside the Artist's Studio

new artists, new films

Like Tweet 5 0

search

Inside the Artists Studio: Dafni E. Barbageorgopoulou, Athens

May 1st, 2009 by Georgia Kotretsos

subscribe
Art21 Blog feed Video feed Education feed Guest Blog feed

With this post, we introduce a new bi-weekly monthly column to the Art21 Blog: Inside the Artists Studio, written by Athens-based artist and contributor Georgia Kotretsos. Heres an overview, in her words: A haven, an office, a meeting place, a thinking space where the working hours spent by an artist may easily be considered illegal by outsiders. Its the space where one composes oneself and tunes in with ones surroundings, where the placing of ones own paraphernalia is sacred but at other times simply allowed to rest in ordered chaos. The space where light-footed apprentices gracefully serve the creative process. A place where the scent of art and habits of an artist pierce ones senses. A space where an artist collects his/her thoughts and then scatters them around freely to be cast into artworks. Can this really be true? Do we still latch onto romantic notions of what a studio is or can be? Or have they involved over the years along with artists themselves? For this reason, I am setting out to meet with two one artist a month to discuss their studio practice, whether that is in the streets, at a computer, in their living space, etc. Inside the Artists Studio will introduce you to a number of artists work. Together well discover where some of todays art is made.

New films in New York Close Up premiering throughout 2012

flash points

communicate

recent comments
How are stories and art intertwined? Agnieszka in Dissecting the Social Self: A [Wo]Man, an Animal, and an Ambiguous I. : Interesting... dennis in When Works of Literature Make The Leap: Joe, looking at Glenn Ligon this summer inspired me to give my ap... Kyle in Videogame Appropriation in Contemporary Art: Grand Theft Auto (GTA): I love the amount of work Rockstar puts... Docsson in The Art + Brain Files: These sound, to me at least, the same comments that were (and for some continue to... Birgitte Lamb in More Moments, More Dialogue: Hi Joe. This sounds very interesting and is clearly a subject of... In and out of the classroom

featured video

David Altmejd: "Assistants"

teaching with contemporary art

pages
About Art21 About the Art21 Blog Writers and Contributors

Artist Dafni E. Barbageorgopoulou at her studio in Keramikos, Athens, Greece

blogger-in-residence

At Dafni E. Barbageorgopoulous studio, art is in the making. Right on Athenss Keramikou Street, the nest of her creative energy previously served as an Asian restaurant. To this day, evidence of this is found in the dried-up noodles stuck on the tiles on the back wall, apparently there to stay. There is a boyish, fresh quality in Barbageorgopoulous work. Her tapestries are generous gestures of art and her personality reflects this very liberty by drawing from a wide range of influences, such as from Cycladic to Mexican art, science fiction to dreams, geometry to poetry, origami to monumental architecture. A fusion of eclectic ideas, disciplines, and genres make up the profile of her work. Dafni holds a BFA in sculpture from the Athens School of Fine Arts and an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art in London (2006). As we speak, she is off to the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien International Studio Program in Berlin for a year. I visited her studio several timesworking with her on this post was a pure joy. She is one authentic lady and Im very please to have her kick off the Inside the Artists Studio column on this site. Georgia Kotretsos: Take us through the development of your practice over the past few years and then talk to us a little bit about how these three tapestries (Mother, 2006; P, 2008; Space Kraft, 2009) came to be?

newsletter
Sign up

art21 online
Michael Neault, Content and Media Producer, Portland, OR on Art21.org on Blip.tv on Del.icio.us on Facebook on Flickr on iTunes on PBS on Twitter on YouTube

categories
> Columns (1284) > 5 Questions for Contemporary Practice (21) > Alchemy of Inspiration (5) > Art 2.1: Creating on the Social Web (16) > Bedfellows: Art and Visual Culture (15) > BOMB in the Building (19) > Bound: The Printed Object in

blogroll
16 Miles of String 2 Buildings 1 Blog Art Fag City

http://blog.art21.org/2009/05/01/inside-the-artists-studio-dafni-e-barbageorgopoulou-athens/

Page 1 of 6

Inside the Artists Studio: Dafni E. Barbageorgopoulou, Athens | Art21 Blog

Context (6) > Cairo in Context: Art and Change in the Middle East (4) > Calling from Canada (15) > Center Field | Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports. (58) > Future Metaphors (3) > Gastro-Vision (37) > GIF(t) Basket (8) > Gimme Shelter: Performance Now (18) > Ink: Notes on the Contemporary Print (29) > Inside the Artist's Studio (40)
"P," 2008. 350 x 400 x 250 cm

1/13/13 8:14 PM

Art Whirled Artlog ArtsBeat Bad at Sports BAM 150 BOMBlog C-Monster Creative Capital The Lab Culture Monster Ed Winkleman Eyeteeth Henry Art Gallery: Hankblog Hrag Vartanian Hyperallergic IMA Blog LACMA: Unframed Look Into My Owl Mattress Factory Modern Art Notes MoMA: Inside/Out New Curator OC Art Blog PBS NewsHour: Art Beat SFMOMA: Open Space The Artblog The Ben Street The Daily Beast The Gray Area (Grey Art Gallery, NYU) The Huffington Post Two Coats of Paint updownacross VernissageTV Walker Art Center

> Inspired Reading (12) > Letter from London (92) > Lives and Works in Berlin (28) > Looking at Los Angeles (81) > New Kids on the Block (4) > No Preservatives: Conversations about Conservation (37) > On Location: Inside Art Documentary Production (9) > On View Now (32) > Open Enrollment (145) > Praxis Makes Perfect (35) > Problematic: Answering Questions with Questions (2) > Revolution 2.1 (3) > Teaching with Contemporary Art (268) > The Weekly Roundup (198) > Transmission (5) > Turkish and Other Delights (11) > What's Cookin': The Art21ndex (34) > Word is a Virus (7) Week in Review (1) > Flash Points: (421) Compassion: Do artists have a social responsibility? (29) Fantasy: Does art expand our ability to imagine? (26) How are stories and art intertwined? (12) How can art effect political change? (74) How do we experience art? (73) How does art respond to and redefine the natural world? (40) How is art influenced? (35) Must art be ethical? (40) Systems: Can art transcend paradigms? (32) The New Culture Wars: What's at Stake? (9) Transformation: How does art adapt and change over time? (26)

Dafni E. Barbageorgopoulou: My practice focuses on the mapping of bodily experiences, which are then transferred into two-dimensional forms (patterns, collages). These maps/motifs (as in the case of Mother) are consequently being transferred as objects/installations into space (as with P). At the center of this process is the way in which the body tunes into creative flow. A sense of energy and repetitive movement conducts new rhythms. I am interested in how the final object or situation preserves the levels of energy released during the process of making. This release creates a certain void around the work activating the field around it. The end result becomes lighter, shifts scale, and engages with new materials. Each project is an integral part of a bigger synthesis. GK: What role do dreams and futurism play in your work and how do you combine the two in the actual tapestries?

archives
January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

Left: Preliminary drawing of tapestry. Right: Tapestry entitled "Space Kraft," 2009. 220 x 180 cm

DEB: Dreams and journeys are the raw material of my practice. An essential part of this material is gathered from a detailed record of my dreams during the periods I travelled. The spatial and temporal passages performed during journeys resonate in non-linear, organic growth and the narrative sequences dictated by dreams. Reminiscent of a filmic experience, this mesh of images and places is released by memory and involuntary thoughts. This process does not exclude my experience from the periods when I am not traveling; rather it contains and embosses it. As such, my artistic research aims to explore ways to reintegrate ritual into art by analyzing how sensed, rather than understood, correspondences between memory and action become functional and thus expressive tools within art practice. I propose ways of combining constructive, synthetic aspects of artmaking with instinctive responses to patterns emerging from non-verbal realms. I aim to critically review how a generic function of visual art is to activate such mental primordial imagery and structures to promote communicative aspects of the discipline. Out of the interaction of dreams with journeys derive images, phrases, and coincidences that feed my work and clarify my inquiries in an open-ended dialogue. I am consciously following and developing these instinctual drives. Specific works like Mother, P, Space Kraft, and Star Kite have been created within this process. The depiction of these relations is based on futuristic references through the use of geometrical shapes, recurring patterns, and strong colors. As in a dream, in my work I am describing an experience of space where time has contracted, where causalities can be overcome, and creative forces are at hand. There is a tension between action and image as experienced in the activity of the journey and the images of the dream. My work is acting like a storyteller of the modalities of both experiences, shifting between sensations of time and space. The unrealized, immaterial fabric of dreams is transposed into the imaginary narratives running throughout my work. ________________________________________________________ GK: I had the opportunity to discuss the process of these works at her studio. So, lets hear it straight from Dafni. Dafni E. Barbageorgopoulou discusses the process of making the three tapestries:

http://blog.art21.org/2009/05/01/inside-the-artists-studio-dafni-e-barbageorgopoulou-athens/

Page 2 of 6

Inside the Artists Studio: Dafni E. Barbageorgopoulou, Athens | Art21 Blog

1/13/13 8:14 PM

What influences art? (47) What is the value of art? (83) What's so shocking about contemporary art? (40) > Video: (528) Classroom (15) Conversation (8) Excerpt (35) Exclusive (186) New York Close Up (62) Reblog (198) Spoof (6) Uncut (4) Access '12 (1) GK: Whats your current studio setting and your relationship to that space? Art21 Access '09 (25) Art21 Artists: (1390) Ai Weiwei (19) Alejandro Almanza Pereda (1) Alfredo Jaar (59) Allan McCollum (40) Allora & Calzadilla (68)
Dafni E. Barbageorgopoulou's studio views

May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007

An-My L (30) Andrea Zittel (49) Ann Hamilton (47) Arturo Herrera (39) assume vivid astro focus (5) Barbara Kruger (65) Barry McGee (75) Beryl Korot (10) Bruce Nauman (82) Cai Guo-Qiang (68) Cao Fei (47) Carrie Mae Weems (79) Catherine Opie (7) Catherine Sullivan (26) Charles Atlas (28) Cindy Sherman (61)

Currently my studio space is located in Keramikos, in downtown Athens. Its an affordable 130 sq. meter space, which takes up the entire second floor of the six-floor building, facing towards a big square. There is plenty of daylight coming through, which makes it very pleasant to work there in the mornings. The space of this studio is divided into three rooms: a) the main central room, which is the space for producing all the artworks; b) a computer and printing room; as well as c) a storage space. Since I use it only as a working space, I spend 8 to 11 hours there on daily basis. It is not an ideal space for sculpture since the ceiling is not high enough but it is a very good space for site-specific installations.

support art21
Your tax-deductible donation provides crucial support for Art21 projects.

Left: work surface made of 1. food supplements 2. collection of chopsticks 3. eccentric matchbox 4. table speakers 5. camera case 6. cellphone 7. half a bar of an ION classic chocolate 8. gluestick 9. drill 10. marker and 11. wet wipes. Right: Pigments, sprays, containers nicely stored.

Collier Schorr (35) David Altmejd (4) David Brooks (3) Diana Al-Hadid (2) Do-Ho Suh (43) Doris Salcedo (30) El Anatsui (17) Eleanor Antin (40) Elizabeth Murray (17) Ellen Gallagher (26) Erin Shirreff (1) Florian Maier-Aichen (19) Fred Wilson (35) Gabriel Orozco (55)

admin
Admin access

Thats a wrap!
3 Tweet 0 Like 5 0

Posted in: Conversation, Greece, Installation, Interviews, Sculpture Similar posts: Inside the Artists Studio: Alexis Avlamis , Inside the Artists Studio: Paul Zografakis Part 2 , Introducing New York Close Up , On representations of the artist at work , Inside the Artists Studio: The Studio Reader and the SAIC Summer Studio Comments (3)

3 Responses to Inside the Artists Studio: Dafni E. Barbageorgopoulou, Athens edgertor on May 4, 2009 10:58 am wow, these are great. is there a link to where one can see more of her work? Reply

Glenn Ligon (15) Hiroshi Sugimoto (54) Hubbard & Birchler (8) Iigo Manglano-Ovalle (25) Ida Applebroog (27) James Turrell (48) Janine Antoni (43) Jeff Koons (89) Jenny Holzer (99) Jessica Stockholder (37) John Baldessari (79) John Feodorov (4) Josephine Halvorson (2)

Juozas Cernius on May 5, 2009 10:54 am Thanks for posting, I really enjoy the interview format. Reply

http://blog.art21.org/2009/05/01/inside-the-artists-studio-dafni-e-barbageorgopoulou-athens/

Page 3 of 6

Inside the Artists Studio: Dafni E. Barbageorgopoulou, Athens | Art21 Blog

Inside the Artists Studio: The Studio Reader and the SAIC Summer Studio | Art21 Blog on August 27, 2010 6:12 pm [...] visits I do here, as well as my about own studio space in Athens and the way I utilize it. In 2009, Inside the Artists Studio set out to discover where some of todays art is being made. A book like The Studio Reader takes [...]

1/13/13 8:14 PM

Josiah McElheny (44) Judy Pfaff (40) Julie Mehretu (60) Kalup Linzy (20) Kara Walker (86) Keltie Ferris (10) Kerry James Marshall (47) Kiki Smith (85) Kimsooja (20) Krzysztof Wodiczko (37) Lari Pittman (21) LaToya Ruby Frazier (12) Laurie Anderson (57) Laurie Simmons (42) Laylah Ali (36) Liz Magic Laser (2) Louise Bourgeois (93) Lucas Blalock (8) Lynda Benglis (5) Margaret Kilgallen (17) Mariah Robertson (5) Marina Abramovi (16) Mark Bradford (100) Mark Dion (88) Martha Colburn (8) Martin Puryear (35) Mary Heilmann (33) Mary Reid Kelley (8) Matthew Barney (52) Matthew Ritchie (30) Maya Lin (56) Mel Chin (32) Michael Ray Charles (6) Mika Tajima (7) Mike Kelley (84) Nancy Spero (51) Oliver Herring (54) Paul McCarthy (46) Paul Pfeiffer (22) Pepn Osorio (16) Pierre Huyghe (35) Rackstraw Downes (5) Rashid Johnson (17) Raymond Pettibon (52) Richard Serra (69) Richard Tuttle (37) Robert Adams (37) Robert Mangold (4) Robert Ryman (31) Roni Horn (34) Sally Mann (30) Sarah Sze (11) Shahzia Sikander (32) Shana Moulton (11) Susan Rothenberg (19) Tabaimo (4) Tim Hawkinson (22) Tommy Hartung (4) Trenton Doyle Hancock (38) Ursula von Rydingsvard (35) Vija Celmins (29) Walton Ford (21) William Kentridge (91) William Wegman (35)

Trackback URI | Comments RSS Name (required) Email (required) Website Leave a Reply

Submit Comment

http://blog.art21.org/2009/05/01/inside-the-artists-studio-dafni-e-barbageorgopoulou-athens/

Page 4 of 6

Inside the Artists Studio: Dafni E. Barbageorgopoulou, Athens | Art21 Blog

1/13/13 8:14 PM

Yinka Shonibare MBE (61) Art21 News (300) Biennials (61) Education (432) Exhibitions (735) Festivals (49) Guest Blog (710) Interviews (305) Locations: (1669) Africa (15) Argentina (5) Asia (15) Australia (12) Brazil (2) Canada (48) Caribbean (2) China (24) Colombia (5) Cuba (4) Denmark (11) Egypt (2) Finland (10) France (26) Germany (83) Greece (23) Guatemala (1) Iceland (2) India (7) Iraq (2) Ireland (7) Israel (1) Italy (31) Japan (6) Korea (2) Mexico (11) Middle East (14) Netherlands (13) Peru (3) Poland (3) Russia (2) Scotland (3) South Africa (13) Spain (29) Sweden (10) Switzerland (18) Taiwan (1) Thailand (1) Turkey (22) Ukraine (1) United Kingdom (154) USA (1271) Boston (27) Chicago (165) Connecticut (3) Houston (9) Indianapolis (28) Los Angeles (185) Miami (18) Minneapolis (3) Nebraska (3) New Orleans (23) New York City (569) North Carolina (4) Ohio (10)

http://blog.art21.org/2009/05/01/inside-the-artists-studio-dafni-e-barbageorgopoulou-athens/

Page 5 of 6

Inside the Artists Studio: Dafni E. Barbageorgopoulou, Athens | Art21 Blog

1/13/13 8:14 PM

Philadelphia (21) Pittsburgh (6) Portland (3) San Francisco (89) Seattle (12) Texas (30) Washington (4) Washington D.C. (28) Media: (1629) Architecture (60) Design (82) Drawing & Collage (285) Fashion (27) Film & Video (421) Food (42) Installation (590) New Media (261) Painting (377) Performance (346) Photography (329) Printmaking (95) Public Art (224) Sculpture (455) Social (208) Sound (41) Sound & Music (100) Photos (23) Podcasts (14) Prizes (46) Programs-Events (297) Publications (103) Season 5 (113) Season 6 (32) Support Art21 (19) Uncategorized (75) William Kentridge: Anything is Possible (20)

Art21, Inc. 20012013. All rights reserved. Art21 is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization; all donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
contact us posts(RSS) comments (RSS) top

http://blog.art21.org/2009/05/01/inside-the-artists-studio-dafni-e-barbageorgopoulou-athens/

Page 6 of 6