Capturing Utopia

Fournos, Center for Digital Culture presents in its venue from the 19th until the 25th of September which is the Month of Photography for Athens, the event Capturing Utopia and presents works [digital photographs and images] that have utopia as their theme.

The term utopia has been used in philosophy, art, literature, architecture even in politics to describe ideal situations that are impossible or very difficult to implement. These approaches may have a financial, political or social basis but in any case utopia is always strongly connected with an optimistic, idealistic or almost impossible perfection. The references to the utopia are innumerable, the most famous examples standing out are: Plato's Republic, New Jerusalem by Augustine of Hippo, Utopia by Sir Thomas Moore [that first used the word utopia], New Atlantis by Francis Bacon, the Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Andromeda Nebula by Ivan Efremov and the Cloud Of Maggelan by Stanilav Lem.

Which are the most familiar forms of utopia for today's world? Utopia is a temporal and spatial illusion that examines reality and transforms it. It is connected to the facts and the conditions of each period converting them to something higher, idealized. Today's utopias are connected to contemporary technology and science, their fast development and their possibilities. They leave behind the images of ideal paradises and societies close to nature. They are inspired and they use material from the internet, the mobile and wireless technologies for new conditions of social and political co-existence. Other forms of utopia are shaped into virtual environments from the fields of creation and entertainment.

Fournos aims with this event to form in its venue a utopian environment as this is captured and expressed by digital images. Images that might be realistic or fake. Snapshots from real and virtual worlds. Utopian reflections inspired from the social, political and aesthetical environment or personal everyday moments. Comments, proposals and personal manifestations visualized will adjoin one another to describe the different identities of utopia today.

80 artists from different countries participate in the event with their photos :

Lanfranco Aceti [UK] Beatriz Albuquerque [Portugal] Artemis Alcalay [Greece] Martin Allman [UK] Michalis Arvanitis[Greece] Costas Argyropoulos [Greece] Nicoletta Avgousti[Cyrpus] Atielle [USA] George Vavilousakis [Greece] Rebecca Ballestra [Italy] Zafiro Vlachou [Greece] David Borawski [USA] Dave Bown [USA] Nikos Giavropoulos [Greece] Bert Danckaert [Belgium] Fritz Doneelly & Nadia Anderson [USA] Laurent Emmenegger & Christophe Mitroz [Switzerland] Aaron Flint Jamison [USA] Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca [Colombia] Helmut Grill [Austria] Karin Hanssen [Belgium] Laurel Johannesson [Canada] Lina Theodorou [Greece] Panagiotis Ioannidis [Greece] Vassilis Kantas [Greece] Annetta Kapon [USA] Ilias Kohra Kafouros [Greece] Shay Kun [USA] Costas Kiriakou [Greece] Ioanis Konstantinou  [Greece] Lia Lapithi Shukuroglou [Cyprus] Maria Kavvadia [Greece] Manolis Kassimatis [Greece] Diane Katsiafikas [USA] Chara Katsikatsou [Greece] Olyvia Kiriakopoulou [Greece] Lane Last [USA] Maria Nebegleri [Greece] Iro Lascari [Greece] Robert B. Lisek [Poland] George A. Magalios [USA] Matthew Mascotte [USA] Caitlin Masley [USA] Paula Miklosevic Muhr [Serbia] Netochka Nezvanova [Rumania] Domenico Olivero [Italy] Irena Paskali [FYROM] Abraham Papavramopoulos  [Greece] Maria Paschalidou [Greece] Maria Pesli [Greece] Christos Prossilis [Greece] Staffan Redin [Sweden] Avi Rosen [Israel] Marc Schmitz [Germany] Gil Scullion [USA] Oksana Shatalova [Kazakhstan] Christos Simatos [Greece] Jorgen Sparwasser [Germany] Manolis Sporidis [Greece] Petros Stathatos [Greece] Christian Stan [Rumania] Rita Stavraki [Greece] Whitney Stolich [USA] Spiros Tsakiris [Greece] Sotiris Tsiros [Greece] Pamela Theodotou [USA] TWO/FOUR/TWO [Cyprus] George Fiotakis [Greece] Ilias Chatzichristodoulou [Greece] Dimitirs Psaras [Greece] Jeffrey du Vaillier d' Aragon Aranita [China] Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor [Rumania] Suzi Webster [UK] Claudia Westermann [Germany] Ventsislav Zankov [Bulgaria] Jody Zellen [USA]

19 - 25 September 2005, 19.00 - 24.00

Opening: Monday 19 September, 20.00

Entrance free

PS. "Yet, when Utopia misunderstands itself as something real it is, if anything, even worse. As Bourdieu realises and history teaches, a real existing Utopia is invariably horrific for human beings.." (taken from the article Mobile Utopia by Charles Esche http://artefact.mi2.hr/_a02/lang_en/write_esche_en.htm)