Plásmata II is not just another exhibition but a total experience that 'speaks' about the digital through an array of installations, events, and organically allocated artworks that place emphasis on the body, interaction, and immersion. In Ioannina, we follow new itineraries and symbioses at the boundary of the city and Lake Pamvotida. We address supra-local issues through local expression; we derive knowledge from ecosystems; we become transformed and transform at our end; and we find time to look at ourselves and everybody around us, questioning the boundaries between nature, technology, and culture.

Plásmata ΙΙ: Ioannina invites us to wander through 29 different stations in the city. They urge us to follow a route along the border of the Castle and the lake, where the 19 works of the exhibition dominate the scenery, together with stories that characterize 10 distinct, and at times secret, landmarks of Ioannina. These 29 stations remain intrinsically entwined with the environment of the city and become the springboard for discovering several visible or invisible details, existing elements, crevices, urban mythologies, and non-human organisms that converse with the works, Ioannina and, above all, our own selves and our very future.

Participating artists: Entangled Others, Matthias Fritsch, John Gerrard, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Nikomachi Karakostanoglou, Katerina Komianou, Christian Mio Loclair, Maria Louizou, Maenads, Matthew Niederhauser & Marc Da Costa, Afroditi Panagiotakou & Manolis Manousakis, Malvina Panagiotidi, Panos Sklavenitis, slow immediate, Stefania Strouza, Theo Triantafyllidis, Universal Everything, Maria Varela, WordMord

Curated by: Prodromos Tsiavos, Yorgos Tzirtzilakis, Daphne Dragona

Works Exhibited:

BugSim (Pheromone Spa)

2022

Theo Triantafyllidis

Live Simulation

How do ecosystems function and how resilient or vulnerable are the networks of nature?

Through the glass surface of a terrarium and within lush vegetation expands a busy colony of ants. From this structure grows an entire forest of tiny flowering plants. Blooming, they are calling to be pollinated by buzzing honey bee replicas. An aromatic snail and a dung beetle provide help, while a storm mantis and a sugar spider complete the ecosystem of micro-fauna, praying for a snack. This closed terrarium system is engineered to simulate all the necessary natural cycles for the fragile community of organisms.

Originally commissioned by M. Museum (Almere, Netherlands)

Pheromone Spa (I want to kiss every bug but they are so small and my lips are so strong)

2023

Theo Triantafyllidis & Labrilena Konstantelou

Olfactory Installation

Handmade Essential Oils, Synthetic Human Pheromones, Sculptural Diffusers

An outdoor olfactory installation featuring large sculptures referencing the intricate structures built by ant colonies in “BugSim.” Visitors are enveloped in a rich scent landscape, produced by a combination of handmade essential oils from citrus fruits and flowers and human pheromones. Sculptural diffusers release bursts of scent into a fine mist of water that produces a cooling effect for the audience.

The work is commissioned by Onassis Stegi for the “Plásmata ΙΙ: Ioannina” exhibition.

Sculptural Diffusers Assistant : Christos Fousekis

Material & Color Specialist : Polina Miliou

Photography: Pinelopi Gerasimou, Andreas Simopoulos