Yorgos Sapountzis

Born (1976) in Athens. He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1998-2002), and at the Berlin University of the Arts (2002-04, studio of Rebecca Horn). He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. “Yorgos Sapountzis”, as Jakob Schillinger and Nina Tabassomi mentioned, “is interested in sculptures, specifically public sculptures. In his performances the artist, together with the inhabitants of the city, seeks out these bodies of stone or bronze. These encounters of flesh and stone, movement and stasis, oscillate between ceremonial parades and subversive demonstrations. Sapountzis’s sculptural installations also maintain a tension between anarchy and an examination of tradition”. Recent solo exhibitions: Forgotten Tactics, Isabella Bortolozzi Gallery (Berlin, 2006); After Electricity, ART BASEL 2008, STATEMENT, Loraini Alimantiri Gazonrouge (Basel, Switzerland, 2008); Horizon Drop, Hermes und der Pfau (Stuttgart, Germany, 2009); Pre-Bellevue, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León  (Spain, 2010); Charleroi, Loraini Alimantiri Gazonrouge (Athens, 2010); Sculptures and Mirrors, Freymond Guth Fine Arts (Zurich, 2011); Apparere, Fondazione Morra Greco (Napoli, Italy, 2011); Fast Cast, Isabella Bortolozzi Gallery (Berlin, 2011). Recent group exhibitions: Based in Berlin (Berlin, 2011); performIC 2011 - Trial & Error, Kunstraum Insbruck (Insbruck, 2011); Informell Natur, Galerie Sabine Knust (Munich, 2011); Arivals and Departures, Fondo Mole Vanvitelliana (Ancona, 2010); The First Image, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art (Thessaloniki, 2010); 6th DESTE Prize, Museum of Cycladic Art (Athens, 2009); In Present Tense. Young Greek Artists, National Museum of Contemporary Art - EMST (Athens, 2007); Destroy Athens, 1st Athens Biennale (Athens, 2007).

 

… The times when things get in a muddle are indeed central to the process of my work. One of the main reasons I originally decided to become an artist was for the opportunity to reach these moments of disarray. But it is important to understand that the process never stops there. I don't mess up an existing structure and just leave it in shambles, which is why I am precisely not a “vandal”. The “muddle” is part of my method. It's what allows for surprises and chance encounters that would not happen if you were to respect the boundaries of a regular, fixed playing field. In a way, my performances are a celebration of this coincidence.

 

… In many installations there’s a double presentation of the materials I’m working with. In the video you see the material in action, then around it, the same material being given a space in the room, a new fix order. The combination of these two elements creates an idea of flow. I’m very fond of that line from Hamlet “Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!”. I attempt to show this moment of transition…

 

From an interview to Francesca Boenzi, Mousse, issue 28, April 2011