Eileen at Biennale - www.eileenatbiennale.net

2009-11-16T06:07:00.000-08:00

Interview : My Ine: always seeking the truth…

2009-09-09T01:15:00.000-07:00

Eileen Botsford-Velissaropoulou
My Ine: always seeking the truth…

Text and interview by Gioula Papadopoulou*

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“Ine” (είναι) in Greek means “being”, “existence”. It is a really complex word and has many different uses in the Greek language. “My Ine” is not just “my being” or “my existence”. It goes further and deeper than this, to all the essential elements and qualities of one’s “being”: materially, emotionally, spiritually, philosophically, symbolically, and so on.

“My Ine” is the title and content of the video work that Eileen Botsford-Velissaropoulou has prepared to present in the context of the Florence Biennale 2009. At times dominated by a constant and persisting exploration of identity (personal, social, cultural, transcultural, global) through complex theories and multi-cultural connections, Eileen Botsford-Velissaropoulou approaches her “ine” in an unexpectedly fresh and direct way: simply by being herself. She consciously chooses to translate “my being” into “being me”. Something that seems to be simple and naïve maybe, but -on the contrary- is actually very difficult to achieve in our times. And she is not afraid to do so.

She began her project with a complicated brainstorming, a labyrinth of information and ideas, explaining her thoughts and process of thinking online, in a “digital sketchbook”, as she calls it. But, as she writes in a text about her project: “The more complex my plans became, the less I could feel the truth in them. So I stopped.”

As an artist that follows her instincts, she decided to discard everything outside her and keep the only real “tool” of her being: herself. She writes about this turning point in a highly emotional, but direct way.

“I woke up one morning and cried. I got my camera, switched the music on and started ‘painting movement’ with all I’ve got, myself. I was 3 months pregnant and although my ‘είναι’ and my body was changing, it was still me. I made a video, with no real beginning, end, or hidden meaning, just exposure. I am not sure what it is, but whatever it is, it’s true, that is all I really care about.”

Concepts and terms like nudity, truth, exposure, sensuality and voyeurism, video as a mirror, the body as a tool, are dominant in the piece she created. In the following interview, Eileen Botsford-Velissaropoulou analyses the morphological and conceptual aspects of her upcoming presentation in the Florence Biennale and explains everything about her work.

Interview:

GP: Rosalind Krauss stated back in the seventies that video is a narcissistic medium and related video-art to the “mirror stage” of Lacan’s theory. More than 30 years later many artists still use it for the exploration of their body –and soul. Is video for you primarily a mirror? And what is for you the symbolic meaning behind the reflecting surface?

EBV: Through my practice as an artist using video art, which at times depicts my body, I would agree in part that at times I may be using it as a narcissistic form of expression. Agreeing to this is not a confession, more of an observation of my method of practice, as if to also help myself understand why I am driven to this.

Interestingly, to a certain extent I would also agree with Krauss that Lacan’s “mirror stage” theory on infant development, can be observed in a more complex version through self-performance video art, including my work. The visual identity given from the video reflection of one’s self, does indeed supply an imaginary wholeness to the experience of a fragmentary real we have in our consciousness, even if this practice takes place in our adult life. Lacan’s theory also highlights the relation being developed between the ego and the body, a process, that I believe we develop and practice throughout our life, sometimes as a self-explanatory method, sometimes as a way to understand what our ego and material being really is.

As a whole, my aim is to explore who I am through rawness of images, and in my own - inexplicable in words - way, I hope to develop a language of communication with the audience, a communication that is understood and perceived through alternative, direct channels.

GP: Your work is very strongly connected with your personal image. For “My Ine” you use shots of yourself that seem almost self-referring and self-communicating. But, at the same time, you manage to create a poetic and sentimental atmosphere, with a voyeuristic essence that attracts the viewer to “enter” your personal space and time. How “open” and how “closed” is your work to the viewer?

EBV: “My Ine” was first developed for myself, then for my audience. So the images in the work, in its’ unedited form, were initially completely “open”, however when reaching the stage of presentation I selected what my audience ‘needs’ to see, by putting myself in the audience’s place. The idea remained the same, the images are still raw, but they are ‘beautiful’ rather than intimate. I am not interested in being sexual in my work. Sensuality and grace, which is one of my most cherished images, can be portrayed through non-sexual connotations. I would describe my work as “open” to the viewer, however open to view only a certain image, the image I have selected for them.

GP: How much do you think that you are “exposed” through this work?

EBV: I feel very exposed through this work. I feel exposed through any work of mine, which has been created predominantly with my spirit rather than my mind. But this is what I do, I transport my inner most self on visual material and then expose it. Exposing yourself, who you are, being true, is also a way of living, a daily practice that cleanses your being.

GP: How would you describe with words your “ine”?

EBV: ‘Ine’ is abbreviated from the Greek “είναι” pronounced ‘ine’ and means ‘being’. ‘My ine’ in a way means ‘my being’. I find it challenging to describe my being in words, maybe if I could I would be a writer rather than a visual artist. Either way all I believe My Ine is, is the Truth, and all I try to communicate through My Ine is the Truth, and as Eckhart Tolle has very well analysed:

“There is only one absolute Truth, and all other truths emanate from it. When you find that Truth, your actions will be in alignment with it. Human action can reflect the Truth, or it can reflect illusion. Can the Truth be put in to words? Yes, but the words are, of course, not it. They only point to it”

GP: How does the personal “ine” transcend the personal boundaries and connect to the “whole”?

EBV: The connection to the whole is purely based on the recipient's perception. Anything we try to communicate arrives on the other end in a state that strongly relates to who the perceiver is, what they are ready to and what they want to perceive. Somewhere along these communication lines one hopes to also be able to channel the Truth.

GP: You have created two different versions of “My Ine”, a “raw cut” and a second one where you use the mirror effect –in which we actually see the half image. In this second version gestures and forms seem to emerge from -or immerse into- themselves. Since the original shot is already a “mirroring shot” of yourself, this second version is almost like mirroring the mirror. What is the deeper meaning of this effect?

EBV: I created the second version of this film, firstly because I found it visually baffling and therefore interesting, but also because my work is always created for, or adapted to the location it will be presented. I prepared the work to be presented at the 1st Athens Fringe Festival, and it was projected on a concave corner of an exterior building at Technopolis, Athens, so the resulting visual effect was that all the imagery came from a central line and ended at a central line, forming new geometrical images of the same subject.

GP: In the Florence Biennale 2009 exhibition, you plan to present both versions, raw and mirrored. What does this contradiction indicate for you?

EBV: In the Florence Biennale 2009 I plan to present the project as a documentary, explaining the whole process and including how I worked online through my virtual ‘sketchbook’, www.eileenatbiennale.net . Rather than contradicting itself, the work will be presented in the form of a narrative, in order to present the many faces of this project.

GP: Creating this work, your initial research orientation involved eastern philosophy and many other rituals and traditions referring to an internal and mystical approach of “being”. Where did this “voyage” lead you, personally and from artistic view?

EBV: My research was motivated by a need to focus on myself as a means to understand ‘us’ people. It further developed in to a process of how to best present my studies and conclusions, what techniques and mediums to use. As always, at some point, I muddled myself up with too much information and I stopped. The information had helped me but I had to distance myself from it and start from scratch, become ‘raw’ again.

GP: How much do you follow your instincts in the creative process?

EBV: My personal success is measured by how instinctive a work is. I always try to follow my instincts, and the process is not always as straightforward as one may think. It always starts with research and practice, which is crucial for my work, but at some point I always have to walk away from it and filter my intake. Then, when my mind is clear and focused, I can produce pure work.

GP: What is the major challenge of art for you?

EBV: My personal challenge in my art is to achieve pureness while at the same time being able to live off my work. I believe that not all that is commercial is fake and not all that is pure is non-commercial. It takes refining of your way of thinking to able to combine elements in your work that help you spiritually and also materialistically. I detest stereotypes and refuse to fall in to any, as I find them a comfortable means of excusing yourself from what is really hard in life; change, adaptation, and moving forward.
____________________________

*(Gioula Papadopoulou is a media artist and curator of Video Art Festival Miden, Greece)

Elaine Morgan says we evolved from aquatic apes

2009-08-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

Elaine Morgan is an octogenarian scientist, armed with an arsenal of television writing credits and feminist instincts, on a mission to prove humans evolved in water.

http://www.ted.com/talks/elaine_morgan_says_we_evolved_from_aquatic_apes.html

'Electic Dancing' a short video by EB

2009-07-11T03:44:00.000-07:00

Study and adaptation of an ultrasound by EB

2009-07-09T06:04:00.000-07:00

'Being Idol' short video study by EB

2009-07-09T04:48:00.000-07:00

Reseaching Cycladic Idols in pregnant and post pregnant state

2009-07-09T02:49:00.001-07:00

Above a selection of Cycladic Idols in states of pregnancy.

According to the Museum of Cycladic Art the lines o the Idols stomach note a that an operation or birth has taken place. This opposes common beliefs that the lines signify pregnancy.

Site-specific projection at the Athens Fringe

2009-06-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

Preliminaries at the Athens Fringe

2009-06-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

Setting up at the Athens Fringe

2009-06-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

what else went on at the fringe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWX4tsA4Quo

MY INE preparation for site-specific projection at Athens Fringe

2009-06-05T05:54:00.000-07:00

Location for first exposure of MY INE - Athens Fringe Festival 09

2009-06-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

I will be presenting MY INE the film, in a site-specific large scale projection show as part of the Athens Fringe Festival June 15-21, 2009 www.fringefestival.gr. This will be the first and last presentation of the film work in Greece before the whole project is presented in December at the Florence Biennale 09

Stills from MY INE the film

2009-06-04T08:18:00.001-07:00

It all started with the need to come back to basics, start creating work derived from passion and personal aesthetics rather than logic. This journey was not as easy as I though it would be.

MY INE - Step 4

2009-04-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

"The main theme to emerge... is that there appear to be two modes of thinking, verbal and nonverbal, represented rather separately in left and right hemispheres respectively and that our education system, as well as science in general, tends to neglect the nonverbal form of intellect. What it comes down to is that modern society discriminates against the right hemisphere."

-Roger Sperry (1973)

MY INE - Step 3

2009-04-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

A longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres, connected by the corpus callosum. The sides resemble each other and each hemisphere's structure is generally mirrored by the other side. Yet despite the strong similarities, the functions of each cortical hemisphere are different.

Popular psychology tends to make broad and sometimes pseudoscientific generalizations about certain functions (e.g. logic, creativity) being lateral, that is, located in either the right or the left side of the brain. Researchers often criticize popular psychology for this, because the popular lateralizations often are distributed across both hemispheres, [1] although mental processing is divided between them.[citation needed]

Many differences between the hemispheres have been observed, from the gross anatomical level to differences in dendritic structure or neurotransmitter distribution. For example, the lateral sulcus generally is longer in the left hemisphere than in the right hemisphere. However, experimental evidence provides little, if any, consistent support for correlating such structural differences with functional differences. (citation: see, for example Toga & Thompson (2003). Mapping brain asymmetry. Nature Reviews Neuroscience (4). 37-48; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?indexed=google&rid=neurosci.section.1912 The extent of specialized brain function by area remains under investigation. If a specific region of the brain is either injured or destroyed, its functions can sometimes be assumed by a neighboring region, even in the opposite hemisphere, depending upon the area damaged and the patient's age. Injury may also interfere with a pathway from one area to another. In this case, alternative (indirect) connections may exist which can be used to transmit the information to the target area. Such transmission may not be as efficient as the original pathway.

While functions are lateralized, the lateralizations are functional trends, which differ across individuals and specific function. Short of having undergone a hemispherectomy (removal of a cerebral hemisphere), no one is a "left-brain only" or "right-brain only" person.

Brain function lateralization is evident in the phenomena of right- or left-handedness and of right or left ear preference, but a person's preferred hand is not a clear indication of the location of brain function. Although 95% of right-handed people have left-hemisphere dominance for language, only 18.8% of left-handed people have right-hemisphere dominance for language function. Additionally, 19.8% of the left-handed have bilateral language functions.[2] Even within various language functions (e.g., semantics, syntax, prosody), degree (and even hemisphere) of dominance may differ.

(text from wikipedia)

MY INE - Step 2

2009-04-01T05:26:00.001-07:00

36.8 °C

MY INE - Step 1

2009-03-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

my είναι...my being...in stilleness...

Research - Brainstorming 8

2009-03-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

“Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life.” - William Faulkner

Research - Brainstorming 7

2009-02-27T06:05:00.000-08:00

Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the "psychic apparatus" defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche; they are the three theoretical constructs in terms of whose activity and interaction mental life is described. According to this model, the uncoordinated instinctual trends are the "id"; the organized realistic part of the psyche is the "ego," and the critical and moralizing function the "super-ego."

Even though the model is "structural" and makes reference to an "apparatus", the id, ego, and super-ego are functions of the mind rather than parts of the brain and do not necessarily correspond one-to-one with actual somatic structures of the kind dealt with by neuroscience.

The concepts themselves arose at a late stage in the development of Freud's thought: the structural model was first discussed in his 1920 essay "Beyond the Pleasure Principle" and was formalized and elaborated upon three years later in his "The Ego and the Id." Freud's proposal was influenced by the ambiguity of the term "unconscious" and its many conflicting uses.
(text from wikipedia, image from personal file)

Research - Brainstorming 6

2009-02-17T04:57:00.000-08:00

In his book “Signs of the Gods” best-selling author Erich Von Daniken mentions the existence of an intricate network of ancient Greek sites, connected not just through straight alignment, but also in the relationship of the ratio of their distances to one another involving the famous Golden Section. Here are a few examples:

The distance between Delphi and Thebes corresponds to the longer segment of the golden section of the distance between Delphi and Athens namely 62 per cent !

The distance from Sparta to Olympia corresponds to the longer segment of the Golden section of the distance from Sparta to Athens namely 62 per cent!

The distance from Epidaurus to Sparta corresponds to the longer segment of the golden section of the distance from Epidaurus to Olympia namely 62 per cent!

Clearly astonished Von Daniken summarised his feelings in the following manner:

“So how can we explain the mathematical perfectionism? How can we reconcile it with the standard of mathematical knowledge we attribute to prehistoric peoples? How did they know at what precise point they had to build? As the complicated relationships are only recognisable from a great height we must ask whether 'someone' worked out a geometrical network of sites all over Hellas, sticking flags in the ground saying: This is where you must build a temple”

Research - Brainstorming 5

2009-02-17T04:17:00.000-08:00

Geomancy refers to an ancient form of divination in which, simply put, handfuls of soil or other materials were scattered on the ground, or markings made in the earth or sand, to generate a range of dot configurations which could then be "read" by a seer.

Ley lines, also known as “leys” and “dragon lines” are phenomena most people have heard of but few really understand. Indeed it would be fair to say that no-one understands them fully, as they remain largely unexplained.

Geomancy is considered to play a strong part in the location of Leys.

The science of geomancy demands that structures be placed within the landscape according to certain magical formulas that included the laws of mathematics and music and used in such a way as to provide a harmonic setting for the monument.

The general belief is that prehistoric man was aware of these cosmic lines under the earth and sought to build his sacred structures along them in order to tap into their magical properties.

Major prehistoric structures of higher importance can frequently be found to occupy locations where two or more leys intersect with each other.

Research - Brainstorming 4

2009-02-11T07:40:00.000-08:00

The Vaastu Invocation
Vaastu Shashtra is also called Building Biology,which further teaches us to design building with Soul that helps in creating a unique relationship between human & building.Every human being holds several forms of energy, mostly unknown and unseen energies, both Good and Bad, Evil and Divine, Positive & Negative. Not just human being, but constructed houses and other kind of buildings or places of dwellings also hold these forms of energy.

Vaastu Shashtra is also the Science of Balancing these Energies. Both Humans and Buildings play equal role in creating the required harmony. Scientific study of the holistic interaction between humans and buildings, is vaastu shastra. Study of the forces involved, individual energy meridians, the Chakras and influences of the building on the human character as well as the systems that may be implemented to create a healthy living environment.

Research - Brainstorming 3

2009-02-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

Long before the days of television, radio or even cinema there existed a different form of entertainment in Greece derived from folkloric traditions. Known as shadow theatre, or "Karagiozis" in Greek, it included paper-made puppets which were handled by one puppeteer who stood behind a white screen (a piece of cloth or a sheet were also used) that was illuminated by some source of light.

Shadow theatre was developed in many lands, including China, India, Persia, Indochina and Asia Minor. It was often associated with the worship of the dead as well as with deities of the 'other world.'

Greece is among the very few European countries that adopted shadow theatre, abandoning, however, its religious aspect and adding the provincial Greek culture's own uniqueness to it. Thus, shadow theatre slowly developed into an art form of its own kind, acquiring a Greek interpretation which also included music, acting and social satire incorporated with traditional folklore....

Research - Brainstorming 2

2009-01-24T07:08:00.000-08:00

I am going back to my time at the Openart Residency last year, to find my unfiltered link with Greece

Research - Brainstorming 1

2009-01-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

"We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life. As soon as we are born the return begins, at once the setting forth and the coming back; we die in every moment. Because of this many have cried out: The goal of life is death! But as soon as we are born we begin the struggle to create, to compose, to turn matter into life; we are born in every moment. Because of this many have cried out: The goal of ephemeral life is immortality! In the temporary living organism these two streams collide: (a) the ascent toward composition, toward life, toward immortality; (b) the descent toward decomposition, toward matter, toward death. Both streams well up from the depths of primordial essence. Life startles us at first; it seems somewhat beyond the law, somewhat contrary to nature, somewhat like a transitory counteraction to the dark eternal fountains; but deeper down we feel that Life is itself without beginning, an indestructible force of the Universe. Otherwise, from where did that superhuman strength come which hurls us from the unborn to the born and gives us - plants, animals, men - courage for the struggle? But both opposing forces are holy. It is our duty, therefore, to grasp that vision which can embrace and harmonize these two enormous, timeless, and indestructible forces, and with this vision to modulate our thinking and our action."

-Nikos Kazantzakis