“Knock on wood” – Andreas Pashias

Thursday 11 JUNE, 19:30
the front garden of ASFA, 256 Peiraios st.

Duration: 30’

Visual and performance artist Andreas Pashias presents the first installment of his new series of work “Training for performance”, under the title “Knock on wood”. In an attempt to establish an active connection between the art of performance and the field of athleticism, Pashias draws upon the positioning of the human body as an agent of energy, skill, aesthetic qualities and potentiality, as used in the activity of sports. Through an examination of what it means to ‘compete’ and to ‘complete’ a specific aim, the body comes in contact with an other entity or with the parameters of it’s own self, in a similar manner that the artist reaches an audience through the embodiment of his own presence. In “Training for performance”, drawing upon references from the time of antiquity to the present, the body ‘in action’ is presented as a political body that confirms, tests and disrupts the functioning of a social ensemble.

Pashias’ practice is grounded in the field of performance art through the creation of live performances, installations and photography. Proposed as a visual experience, where action becomes an ‘image-making’ process attempting to investigate the strength of imagery on the process of perception, Pashias sets up performances in the form of a ‘situation’ or an ‘environment’ where the artist’s body and the bodies of audience members can meet and exchange their conditioning forms. Whilst presenting three solo exhibitions in Cyprus and Greece, his work has also been included in group exhibitions and international festivals taking place in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Bulgaria and Turkey. In 2013, Pashias co-founded the epitelesis – Performance Art Foundation, and has been active in curating international exhibitions and series of events on the relationship of live action to other artistic practices, through an ongoing research into diverse exhibitory interpretations of performance art.
www.andreaspashias.com