Monotonia

“The same things will happen again, and then will happen again,the same moments will come and go” C.Cavafy

“People without imagination are beginning to tire of the importance attached to comfort, to culture, to leisure, to all that destroys imagination…” R.Vaneigem

We live in a universal ‘condition’ which forces upon us a ‘monotonous situation’. Our ‘monotonous thoughts’ are designating our everyday acts of apathy that lead us to carapace behavior. Fake illusions of material goals lead us to a circle of events that create a monotonous life-motif. A ‘monotonous situation’ that is in favor of the few, facilitating this way a system of cultural prohibitions and isolated environment. The only enantiosis against this condition are the ‘forbidden illusions’ that have their roots in the expelled dreams of our childhood. These ‘illusions’, revive through the ‘obstructions’ that lead to minor revolutions, the awakening of our inner revolutionary voice, which this way breaks our circle of repetitive events and leads us to journeys of indagation.

 

English

 
 

By Medea Electronique


What if……

What if you wake up one day with the feeling that one day has become an imitation of the other, subsequently followed by yet another, identical. Imagine the realization, of something so simple, but with a striking sensation, that whatever happened has happened again, over and over again. Knowing that the only way to change it -  is to break the repetitive cycle so that it happens no more.

A dialogue triggers…

Triggered by the meaning of the word ‘monotony’, a dialogue between Manolis Manousakis from Greece and Michael Larsson from Sweden was established οriginating from Kvafis’ ‘Monotonia’ and Vanegeim’s ‘The revolution of everyday life’. Τhese two writings acted as departure points for a conversation surrounding four identified thematics; liminality, condition, illusion and obstruction.

a methodology….

By utilizing the above elements a process of sequencing possible combinations was established and put in conjunction with real life experiences. Through this methodology of connecting reference points the backbone of ‘Monotonia’ was created and an audiovisual translation by MedeaElectronique was initiated.

Departure……

Cavafis’ “Monotonia” and Vainegem’s “The Revolution of Everyday Life” serve as departure points for an audiovisual sculpture that attempts to deconstruct the very meaning of monotony; lack of variety, tedious repetition and routine. Deconstruction leads us to a cycle of events whose components are: illusion, obstruction, liminality and condition. Each component has individual characteristics, it is acted out differently and it is not bound to any specific order but is instead used to identify and create certain sets of scenarios.

Arrival……..

The combination of image, sound, light and performance is intended to increase the level of sensory stimulation of the audience in order to suggest certain emotional thematics and structures. The objective then becomes to trigger the audience with a connecting language in multiple instances in a seemingly monotonous cycle.


MANIFEST
Repetitive Actions of senseless behaviors

We live in a universal condition, forcing upon us a state of liminality. Liminal actions and thoughts define our everyday actions of apathy; “The same things will happen again, and then will happen again, the same moments will come and go”.

We have followed that condition in our own accord, choosing the easy path and limiting our self in a confined social environment. An environment based on exclusions and social definitions serving the condition we live in.

‘Fake’ illusions of achievable materialistic goals lead to a cycle of events creating a monotonous life pattern. Commercial life style, big restaurant chains, artificial goods and faux-tech hope for a better future structured on a pyramid of materials made with pain in the third world to be consumed painlessly in the west.

The condition serves the few who belong in the system; a system of social exclusions and secluded environments, The condition has a ritualistic way of defining its purpose. It takes ownership of human behavior and controls its decisions.

‘Forbidden’ illusions are the only hope we have in our society, waiting to be awakened by obstructions. These are illusions made in childhood defining our future dreams. Dreams that where oppressed by the condition we live in.

We are waiting for these obstructions of the system to take us by the hand and move us away from the condition we live in. Obstructions are loud, forceful actions of events reacting to the conditional social system we live in. Obstructions are the inner voices; Socrates demon as he describes in his Apologia; a revo- lutionary force aiming to awaken us from our condition. They appear to us as Faces; images that call us to remember our childhood illusions and restructure our path in life. An obstruction is a scream for hope, a rebellion, a fight, a reassurance that a different future exists.

“Monotonia” does not aim to set itself against the society we live in but for the people who are trapped in this condition. We aim to break our personal monotonous cycle of events. We strive to find a new hypothesis of how social environments can survive in a modern society of different behaviors, cultural backgrounds, needs and dreams.


Through Monotonous Paths of Revolution
By Elli-Anna Peristeraki

Monotony is a feeling that everyone has felt at some point in their life. Monotonous moments, monotonous manners, monotonous thoughts – all of these are part of our every day life and have a strong psychological affect upon us. Based on the writings of the situationists and the stimulus of Cavafy’s poem, Medea Electronique read contemporary monotony as an inner human state, and perhaps the root cause of the depression that is common amongst the average person in contemporary western society. In their own non-aggressive way, Medea Electronique seek to set a trigger that may launch internal questioning about the pursuit of happiness, which seems to lie above and beyond  the consumerist habits and stereotypes of contemporary society.

‘Monotonia’ is an artwork that attempts to engage the viewer emotionally and intellectually. It underscores the conscious or unconscious monotony in the average person’s life and tries to take the audience along a journey of self-criticism and introspection, with the final aim of prompting the viewer to re-allocate his or her inner world in order to break their personal monotonous circle. In this sense the artwork does not seek to liberate the viewer from monotony but instead tries to become a critical intervention in their personal sequence of life events, provoking monotonous feelings that seek to stimulate their thoughts.

The combination of the texts of Cavafy and Vaneigem bring a revolutionary dynamic to ‘Monotonia’, ascribed by the simplicity of monotonous images and sound. Through the deconstruction of the two texts, the main motifs of the artwork – circle and repetition- arise and intertwine with the four thematic points – illusion, liminality, obstruction and condition- that get translated to images-sequences which get smashed by the montage. While viewing the artwork each viewer is called to rebuild those sequences, building this way his own story in the artwork. In this way the projection of personal experiences on the subjects that are pertained by the artwork, are facilitated.

‘Monotonia’ tries to create an experience for the audience. To achieve this it has to stimulate all senses. While image concentrates on feeding the conscious, music concentrates on awakening the unconscious. Yet sound here has another role as well; that of the narrator. It draws attention from one sequence-screen to another, within the gallery space facilitating the recital of image. In this way the relationship of the two mediums becomes parallel and supplementary, with sound amplifying the meanings of the visual while at the same time performing an individual and essential function for the reading of the artwork.

Through this structure, ‘Monotonia’ seeks to become an oblique interactive play. The goal of creating an experience in the gallery space is interaction per se – not in the classical sense of action-reaction within the gallery space but in a wider context of action in the gallery and reaction in real life – moving from the inside out.

 
 
 

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