#mostmechanicsarecrooks

[eyangian]

Most Mechanics Are Crooks

Η καλλιτεχνική κολλεκτίβα των Most Mechanics Are Crooks προτείνει λύση στο αδιέξοδο που προέκυψε μετά την ασυμφωνία της Υπουργού Πολιτισμού Μυρσίνης Ζορμπά και του εικαστικού Κώστα Βαρώτσου. Σε αντίθεση με το εμφυλιοπολεμικό κλίμα που επικρατεί, πιστεύουμε ότι η τέχνη πρέπει να ενώνει τους πολίτες, τις πολιτικές παρατάξεις, τους πολιτισμούς, τους λαούς και τα έθνη. Σχεδιάσαμε μια πρόταση που μπορεί να φέρει κοντά τον αρχαίο και σύγχρονο πολιτισμό των δύο λαών, ικανοποιώντας τις προσδοκίες του συνόλου των εμπλεκομένων. Η πρόταση που εκπονήσαμε και καταθέτουμε στο Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού εισάγει ταυτόχρονα στην Ελλάδα και τη Μακεδονία την σύγχρονη αισθητική του μεταψηφιακού ρετροφουτουρισμού (post-digital retro-futurism). Οι τεχνικές παρεμβάσεις πάνω στα υπαρκτά έργα του Κώστα Βαρώτσου και της Μακεδόνισσας γλύπτριας Βαλεντίνας Στεφανόβσκα αντίστοιχα, θα παράξουν δυο αλληλοσυμπληρωνόμενα έργα, ένα για κάθε τόπο, ένα για κάθε λαό. Το δύο έργα θα ονομαστούν post-human pasts/futures. Θα σταθούν οι φορείς στο ύψος των περιστάσεων; Περιμένουμε το πράσινο φως από τις αρμόδιες αρχές. Art befriends peoples! The artistic collective of Most Mechanics Are Crooks suggests a way out of the impasse that occurred after the disagreement between the Greek Minister of Culture Myrsini Zorba and artist Costas Varotsos. In opposition to the hostile climate of the days, we believe that art is meant to bring citizens, political parties, cultures, peoples and nations together. We thus designed a proposal that bridges the contemporary and ancient civilization of the two peoples, meeting the expectation of all sides involved. The proposal we submitted to the Greek Ministry of Culture introduces the contemporary aesthetics of post-digital retrofuturism to both Greece and Macedonia. The respective technical interventions on the existing artworks of Varotsos and the Macedonian sculptress Valentina Stefanovska will produce two complementary artworks – one for each place, one for each people. The two pieces will be named Post-human pasts/futures. Will the official authorities provide this initiative with the support it deserves?

[eyangian]

Kultursymposium Weimar 2019 – Die Route wird neu berechnet with Most Mechanics Are Crooks

June 19, 2019, Weiner, Germany

Kultursymposium Weimar 2019 - Recalculating the Route In an increasingly complex world, how can we ensure we don’t lose track? And how can we retain authorship over our lives in the face of rapid technological change? The Goethe-Institut is organising an international cultural symposium in Weimar from 19 to 21 June 2019 under the title "Recalculating the Route". Scientists, students and experts from all over the world are invited to Weimar in order to discuss the societal issues that are affecting us globally. The lectures and discussions at the symposium will be accompanied by a diverse supplementary programme featuring exhibitions, performances, film screenings, and other events. INCLUDING AMONGST OTHERS: Anab Jain (Großbritannien), Panashe Chigumadzi (Simbabwe), Assaf Gavron (Israel), Pankaj Mishra (Indien), Toby Walsh (Australien), Katrin Nyman-Metcalf (Estland), Sarah Chen (USA), Stephanie Kaiser (Deutschland), Antônio Araújo (Brasilien), Steffen Mau (Deutschland), Huang Yi (Taiwan)

[eyangian]

Weasel Dance

The mimetic in the post-digital predicament

Curated by Most Mechanics Are Crooks The weasel dance is a hypnotizing choreography that paralyzes the weasel’s prey. This is, perhaps, a successful depiction of the post-digital predicament: we remain dazzled by the plurality of our on-line identities, digital extensions, “memetic” truisms and mimetic selves while imagining the perpetuation of self-mastery. We, thereby, perform the post-digital trauma: the scars our online masks leave on our faces. This event brings together a variety of artists working with the schizophrenic economy of the internet and digital mediation. In the decade of “Greek crisis”, these artists witnessed the implosion of social and political sphere, the rise of social media and the sudden gamification of life after Reality TV. They experimented with the vast options of identity molding via the use of avatars, alter egos, masquerade, semblance, mimicry, parafiction and the practice of crafty underhanded ingenuity. Yet, rather than feeding a fantasy of heroic subversiveness, they acknowledge the impact of avatarization and thematize the discomforting effects of their mended self-image. The Weasel Dance event transforms Goethe-Institut Athen into a lair of alluring post-digital monstrosities. It is the inaugural curatorial project of Most Mechanics Are Crooks, a newly formed artistic and curatorial band that aims to reclaim insincerity as a tool of progressive discourse, challenging the new belief in the existence of ontological truths, unconditional empathy, disarming sincerity and artistic humanism. Participants: Sam Albatros, ASFA Lab 12/Poka-Yio, Ayşenur Babuna, Flower Girls (Eleftheria Kotzaki, Christina Spanou, Dimitra Stamatopoulou), Hypercomf, It's me! (performed by Thanos Ghikas, Helen Karakou, Markella Ksilogiannopoulou), Klassenfahrt (Nikos Arvanitis, Anamarija Batista, Alexios Dallas, Jakob Dietrich, Christine Eder, Kyriaki Goni, Dejan Kaludjerović, Vana Kostayola, Kai Maier-Rothe, Panos Sklavenitis, Kostis Stafylakis, Axel Stockburger), Dimitra Kondylatou, Apostolos Lampropoulos, Most Mechanics Are Crooks (Eva Giannakopoulou, Alexis Fidetzis, Panos Sklavenitis, Kostis Stafylakis), Eva Papamargariti, Lykourgos Porfyris, Theo Triantafyllidis, Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou, Michailangelos Vlassis-Ziakas, Vassilis Vlastaras & Maria Glyka. Ευγενική χορηγία: Μουσείο Ζωολογίας Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών http://old.biol.uoa.gr/zoolmuseum/?fbclid=IwAR1jzbKeo7vWEZvR7PVCAuPeTMU0M9Dagzlgz8rFMsp_JiQt-tETor1RTVQ

Photo Credits by Costadinos Koulakmanidis, Nikos Stathopoulos and Christos Zafiris