Festival Miden, Greece
>=< IFFR XL Jubilee Program

ALL GREEK TO ME – NOT ALL GREEK TO ME
VIDEO ART FROM GREECE

Festival Miden presents a selection of videos by Greek contemporary artists, in two screening programs entitled "All Greek to Me" and "Not All Greek to Me".

The "All Greek to Me" program includes 12 videoart works emphasizing to abstract narration and experimenting with visual form using symbolic images and personal narratives. Mary Zygouri and Evangelia Basdekis record themselves in surrealistic peculiar actions. Makis Faros uses images of barking dogs to visualise a Wallace Steven's Poem and Aggeliki Vrettou visualises a musical composition with a kind of surreal collage. Eileen Botsford, Vasiliki Lefkaditi and Ioanna Myrka use different perceptions of time to create symbolic videos which deal with the cycle of life. Nikos Giavropoulos and George Vaviloussakis criticize "old" and "contemporary" male and female ideals and Gioula Papadopoulou gives another -dual- version of Ophelia. Stelios Dexis & Myrto Vounatsou present their idea of the "post-body" in a vigorous rhythm of life. And Panayota Tzamourani deals -through symbolic images of childhood- with the concept of "freedom".

The "Not All Greek to Me" program includes 14 videos with a more straight forward narrative style and content. Experimenting with different forms of video-expression, from short films to stop-motion, computer graphics and 3D animation, they represent a wide spectrum of artistic creativity.
Anna Vasof and Giorgos Maraziotis make a direct statement on crucial social issues of contemporary Greece, while Konstantinos Pardalis, Nikolaos Pastras and Danai Konstanta transform familiar images to haunting innuendos, addressing both personal and global fears. Martha Koumarianou and Eva Poulopoulou use different versions of computer graphics to express concerns about issues of identity and freedom, while Danae Mylonaki explores sexual identity through an insinuative performance and Despina Myriokefalitaki makes her own personal revolution through a "domestic" symbolic gesture. Rania Bellou explores body movement in digital space and Natalie Dimitriou & Joao Guarantani create their own digital "ode to the city" exploring urban space. Finally, Dimitris Gakis, Vogler and Babis Alexiadis experiment with moving images and rhythms creating poetic or playful music videos.

Festival Miden*, the first Greek video art festival presented in open public spaces, is an annual video art & new media cultural event held in Kalamata, GR.

The festival is founded, organized and curated by a team of contemporary Greek artists, who are all linked with Kalamata since childhood. It is an independent organization, supported by Kalamata's Historic Centre Organization, the Messinia Chamber of Commerce and the Municipality of Kalamata.

The main purpose of the festival is the free presentation, promotion and development of Greek and international video art and new media art, in times dominated and defined by "image" and "technology", creating a new, alternative, peripheral meeting point for emerging and established video and media artists from Greece and all over the world.

Since 2005, Festival Miden has been gradually established as one of the most successful and interesting video art festivals in Greece and abroad and has been a significant point of cultural exchange for Greek, European and international video art.
Festival Miden has presented screening programs, exhibitions and collaborations all over Greece, while collaborating with various art groups, art schools, art spaces, organizations and other festivals in Greece and internationally.

(*Miden means "zero" in Greek)

Festival Miden, GR
Curated by Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos, Gioula Papadopoulou
January 27 — 31, 2011

Program

ALL GREEK TO MEMary Zygouri, Symbiosis (Italy-2007), 2:00

Ioanna Myrka, Frustration (Greece -2006), 1.55

Nikos Giavropoulos, Male Ideal? (Greece -2004), 4.29

George Vaviloussakis, Born (Greece -2003), 5.00

Eileen Botsford, Cycle (UK - 2005), 9.13

Aggeliki Vrettou, Draw the Curtains (Greece -2008), 7.41

Makis Faros, LEBENSWEISHEITSPIELEREI (from Wallace Stevens' poem), (Greece -2009), 3.13

Stelios Dexis / Murto Vounatsou, Post body, (Greece -2010) 4:20

Gioula Papadopoulou, Ophelia x 2 (Greece-2010), 2.30

Vasiliki Lefkaditi, Time (Greece -2006), 1.55

Panayota Tzamourani, Golden Cage (Greece -2006) 2.00

Evangelia Basdekis, Art Is Beautiful (Greece -2003) 5.10

Duration: 50 min

NOT ALL GREEK TO ME

Konstantinos Pardalis, Memo#34 (Greece -2006), 4.30

Giorgos Maraziotis, Spring (Greece -2009), 4:24

Anna Vasof, 1-100 (Austria-2008), 3:25

Nikolaos Pastras, for j.g. ballard (Greece -2008), 2.46

Danai Konstanta , Bon Appetit (Greece -2009), 0:51

Despina Myriokefalitaki, Cleaning (Greece -2005), 5.22

Martha Koumarianou, Pixel trilogy:ID (Greece -2007), 1.23

Eva Poulopoulou, The Grid (France/ Greece -2006), 3.40

Rania Bellou, Digi-World (UK-2005), 2.53 (Courtesy Kalfayan Galleries, Athens – Thessaloniki)

Natalie Dimitriou / Joao Guarantani, Ode to the city (UK – 2006), 2.23

Danae Mylonaki, The Wig (UK-2008), 3.23

Dimitris Gakis, Four Elements Groove (Greece -2009), 3.11

Vogler, Because of the Key (Greece -2005), 5.20

Babis Alexiadis, Into-pieces (UK-2006), 5.30

Duration: 50 min