Mary Zygouri

Valutazione Democratica: vendo, compro,permuto

Studio Stefania Miscetti

Thursday, November 14- Saturday, November 27, 2010

http://www.studiostefaniamiscetti.com/index.php

By Monet McCord

Situated in a small art gallery in the midst of a residential neighborhood, Studio Stefania Miscetti is currently showing the work of Mary Zygouri, Valutazione Democratica: vendo, compro,permuto.  The artist was born in Athens, where she currently lives and works.  The artist is the protagonist in all of her works.   This exhibition consists of three components, photographs, video, and a live performance.  Mary Zygouri deals with issues related to individual and social identity crisis in the contemporary world.  Mary Zygouri realizes situations that deal wit the definition of self-identity in relation to power, censorship, and surveillance systems.  Patricia Rivadeneira curated the exhibition but during my visit the gallery assistant, Antonia Alampi showed me the way through the show. 

After buzzing the door to enter the gallery you are engulfed by photographs on either side of you.  These images are film stills from the trilogy that is playing in the huge room directly in front of them.  In the second space the viewer is able to watch the film while sitting comfortably on a couch. The projection consists of three different videos playing in a constant loop.

The first video of the trilogy titled Zoopetics Zoopolitics is Symbiosis (2007), which shows the artist sitting at her desk working as a secretary or a writer.  This appears to be a normal job until the screen shot is widened and the viewer realizes that she is sitting in the middle of a hencoop.  The chaotic flustered hens surrounding her then complicate the simple job of writing on a typewriter.  There is a contrast of the rational and irrational.  In the film still there are numbers floating all around here, my personal interpretation is that she is trying to keep a count of the chaotic animals, which is an irrational task because it is impossible to count flustered hens.  But the animals are only behaving this way because man has put them in that situation. Symbiosis is commenting upon the dynamic of man’s control over animal.

The next video segment in the trilogy is Decadence (2008), which takes place in Salento (Puglia).  The film shoes the artist in a white flowing gown riding in some unidentifiable object resembling a spaceship that appears to be self-destructing across empty fields; she is comparable to the Greek goddess Nike.  Here there is the contrast between the ramshackle vehicle and the beautiful figure inside of the object.  There is also a statement of past and future, as seen in the film still of this scene, there is the word NASA on the side of the vehicle that points towards the progression of science.

In the last video segment, titled Long Live the King (2010), the artist confronts herself with a elephant.  There are various scenes of her giving the power to the animal instead of taking advantage of the animal and being in control of it.  At the end of the scene instead of killing the animal, which normally is what would happen, she instead commits suicide, thus making the statement that man is giving the power to animals and no longer controlling them.

Although this exhibition is situated in a small gallery, it definitely has a big message to deliver.  The artist is able to convey these political and social messages through video and photographs topped off with a live performance that took place the evening of the opening.  The live performance was a demonstration of her carrying 10 white bags on a wagon through the city of Rome.  The bags were labeled with various political messages; the act was a metaphor for the obstacles that are met along the path of trying to present the idea of Democracy.  Whenever there is a new idea or concept being introduced into society there will always be conflict and a struggle to have that idea accepted especially if it will the effect the daily lives of people.  She physically had to encounter the police, pedestrians, traffic, and the city of Rome on her route. 

The continuous running loop of the video makes it a challenge to identify what is the beginning or the end.  This mystery forces the viewer to pay closer attention to the work to try and find a common theme amongst the segments.  The film stills that are viewed before and after the viewing of the video helps to explain the message the artist is conveying.  With a first look at the photographs the viewer is somewhat confused and an understanding of them is possible only after viewing the videos. With all contemporary art, the goal is to have the spectator involved in the artwork and Mary Zygouri captures this with her film stills, video and live performance, commenting at the same time on visual complex themes.