The chained elephant
The project is the animation of the fairy tale "The chained elephant". "The Chained Elephant" is one of the stories of psychiatrist Jorge Bukay from his book "Let me tell you a story" which he tells to his client. It refers to a child' s question who notices that a huge circus elephant remains tied to a small stick without trying to free itself and without protesting. The circus elephant remained tied to his tiny stick because "the memory of the weakness he felt shortly after his birth is etched in his memory."
Direction and animation: Papa Alkistis, Music and composition: Nicky Kokkoli, Sound engineer: Chrysanthi Matsagka
Related Works
The present postgraduate thesis was prepared in the context of the completion of the postgraduate program of the Department of Sound and Visual Arts of the Ionian University.
The study of the subject will be the facts and data on the occasion of the completion of 200 years since the Greek Revolution.
The present work aims to enrich the theoretical framework of study. Its structure is based on data that I have collected (rare photographic material, letters, etc.), from the Public Archives of the State, the Kapodistrias Museum and the Reading Company.
As Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" is one of my favorite paintings, I created an acoustic composition with the main goal of creating an atmosphere with a freer and more abstract approach. The small touches, the colors, the swirling flow, the natural landscape of the painting and the psychosynthesis of the artist are captured. The piece in combination with two images consists of three parts. In the first part, the night landscape is presented, in the second the intense emotions of the artist and in the third the nature with its power that calms the human soul.
The compositional method is based on the incorporation of sound material of cultural background into an electroacoustic piece. By drawing a linear narration, my aim was to demonstrate a unity, an imaginary community, which characterizes the Romani culture, despite the hybridic, complicated and diverse traditions deriving from the various European and Asian countries its people live in. A central question behind the making of this piece is what kind of role can a civilization have today, when the concept of space is eliminated by time- a key element in the dynamics of capitalism. What are the cultural consequences of the so-called annihilation of time and space, as materialized and tangible dimensions of social life? Are historical tradition and the search for roots promoted and reorganized as simulacra, imitations or/and museum culture, thourgh the demonstration of a partly deceptive past?
This changing frame represents an allegorical image of human nature, which when it is in dialectic with the outside world - during the transition from private to public life, experiences conflicting feelings of apprehension, anticipation, reticence, curiosity and extroversion.
I closed my eyes and images began to flood my mind while hearing a sound. After many visualizations of the images into drawings I chose this narrative.
I chose to emphasize the vortex I was feeling.
It was a spontaneous way to record what I experienced.
Each person through his own sensors experiences the ambience of each condition. It all depends on the self, the internal, the mind, the way of perception, action, perspective.
So my own images, were born from my mind for my mind.
Maybe it is paranoia of the mind and one can emigrate it.
This is the most difficult,
the deconstruction of atmospheres - experiences - memories that contain emotion.
Because emotional paranoias are shadows nourished by repetition and persistence.
They dance as if they are Erinyes of the mind and the body gets to be an eradicated observer.
A short documentary, based on the theory of Observational Cinema. It is the portrait of the caretaker of the British Cemetery in the island of Corfu, Greece, Mr. Yorgos Psailas. The documentary deals with his daily life in the cemetery. Mr. Psailas also recounts the most important moments of his life as well as his thoughts about life and death.
This art piece is trying to express the struggle between letting go ας one would use nature for meditative reasons and the over controlling mind fixating on patterns deriving from sea foam lines.
