KIKI PETRATOU

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I Still Hate Thatcher
↳ Kunstvlaai, Amsterdam, The Netherlands


kiki petratou

Installation view at Kunstvlaai, I Still Hate Thatcher, Site- specific Installation , 2 Synchronized Slide Projectors , 2 School Tables, 2012

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Petratou's work focuses on concepts of place, location, mobility and identity. As photographer and video artist she embraces the fluidity of the mediums' properties to document the raw and real and contrastingly also to stage and style the less real.


I Still Hate Thatcher is based on photographic material taken in the streets of Athens, Greece. The photographs depict a mix of grafiti, written text and posters in public spaces whose focus alternates between political, social, football related and love messages.
The work re-approapriates these messages by combining images in a double projection to re-tell the story of a city in a non-linear manner.

Kunstvlaai: Festival of Independents 'INexactly THIS'
St Nicolaas Lyceum Amsterdam
November 23 — December 2, 2012


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Exhibition pictures
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RED LACES & The Nigerian Story - A True Story
CUCOSA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands


kiki petratou

Installation view in CUCOSA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2012

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The slide projection "Red laces" and "The Nigerian Story – A True Story" - a collaboration between Petratou and Dutch poets Joris Lenstra and kO nOrderisk - examines identity, idealism and its related meanings and unravels the priorities of values, principles, ideals and goals over concrete realities. Here determination and forgetfulness, romanticism and hard reality intertwine only to highlight the unstable nature of ideas over time and to stress how adjusting to the norm may interfere in such a way so that certain ideals minimize, change or become suppressed.
The resulting works are a combination of text – usually handwritten with chalk on a blackboard and photographed – and image – capturing the equivocal position of the portrayed individuals in an intimate and murky atmosphere. The relation however between image and text does not develop in a literal way but rather absurd and more associative. This combined with dramatic use of colour and lighting contributes towards a stylised representation. Petratou's construction of the intimate only serves to heighten the complexity and potentiality of an apparently bounded identity.



CUCOSA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Attraction of the Opposites

Curated by Kiki Petratou

February 9 — March 10, 2012
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Red Laces & The Nigerian Story - A True Story were presented in 2012: Kunstvlaai: Festival of Independents, INnexaclty THIS, Sint Nikolaas Lyceum, Amsterdam, NL | Attraction of the Opposites, CUCOSA, Rotterdam, NL, 2012 | 2011: Route du Nord light, Spam, Rotterdam, NL | 2009:
Photo Biennale Photodistorzija, Istrian Chamber, Poreč, HR (cat) |
Riders on the Worm, WORM, Rotterdam, NL |
Fantastic Borders, Gil&Moti Homegallery, Rotterdam, NL

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Exhibition pictures

5 Senses of Vilnius
↳ Vilnius, Lithuania


vilnius map detail

AsTave Miliu, Detail, from the project 5 Senses of Vilnius: Taste, Installation in Public Spaces, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2009
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Five Senses of Vilnius invited artists from Lithuania Italy, Russia, UK, Sweden, Germany, USA, Belgium, the Netherlands, Croatia and Israel to participate in the project: create together with an untraditional perception of urban history and the history of the Vilnija Region, its culture and environment through the five senses: hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch.

The aim of the project was to produce a functional, aesthetic, long-term and value lasting souvenir Vilniaus simbolis, erupting from the dominion of "amber Gediminas Tower pictures" and highlighting the unique tradition of Vilnius dialogue, the coexistence of ethnical communities, and Vilnius as a city open to the idea of Europe.

The first two weeks were devoted to theoretical lectures and experimental master classes, creative workshops, laboratories and excursions.
The resulted Souvenirs were presented in 5 columns (advertisement stands) located in the city center with each of them dedicated to one of the senses.  

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In co-operation with Architect Gabriele Zanoni, Graphic designers Gleb Solntsev and Ron Yosef, Choreographer and food Specialist Rasa Alksnyte we created a mapping of the history of Vilnius in relation to the Sense of Taste.

The River of Vilnius which divides the city into 2 social, cultural, political and geographical units is used here as the link to unite them by re-inventing new strategies for co-existence.


Produced by LT Identity

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5 Senses of Vilnius
Residency, Workshops and Installation in Public Space
August 24 — September 5, 2009

Exhibition pictures

HOTEL ROOMS
↳ Island of Dreams, Eretria, Greece


kiki petratou

Island of Dreams, Hotel Room No 7, 2008
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The Open Art Residency program began in June and ended in September 2008.
The application of program is based on a prototype model of artists invited from all over the world to reside and work at the Open Art Residency on the Island of Dreams, at Eretria.

Cheapart and Charalambos Dermatis- artist / curator and managing editor, co-organised the 1st International Open Art Residency. Artists from Greece and abroad were invited to stay for 15 days and produce their work at the hotel work spaces. The aim of this venture was to gather international artists, encourage their artistic production on the site and increase their familiarity with the Greek public .



Open Art Residency, Eretria, Greece
Curated by George Georgakopoulos & Charalambos Dermatis
June 1 — August 9, 2008

Exhibition pictures


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ILLUMINATORS
Koltsovo, Yekaterinburg, Russia


kiki petratou

Installation View at Koltsovo Airport,2008, Photo by Evgene Belikov
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In Russian an Illuminator (port hole) is a round window onboard a ship, airplane, space station.
The concept of the project is based on the round shape of the exhibited works of art. This formal principle is closely connected with on the one hand the image of aircrafts and air travels (till recently planes have had round port holes); on the other hand it plastically continues and supports the idea of the round plafonds in the foyer of the terminal where the exposition will be installed. Here the formal aspects of concept close down the meaning of the word Illuminators in the majority of European languages, where the Latin word means a lighting unit, a source of light, a screen, somebody or something shedding light, lighting and also an artist illustrating/ decorating manuscripts. That's why Illuminators are not only works of art but also those creating them – artists.
A round is the most harmonious shape, a fundamental archetypical sign offering a vast variety of associations. One of its most obvious meanings is the world. In this case Illuminator is an artist's worldview projection or worldview magnifying glass or «window» into artist's world.
The exposition of Illuminators exhibition visually and conceptually coincide with the name of the airport Koltsovo (koltso is Russian for a ring; ring – round). The exhibition opened on the eve of the Day of Cosmonautics. Russian cosmonautics started to some extend in Koltsovo as the first jet engines were tested here.
The project is aimed to create a positive, emotionally rich environment in the waiting rooms of the international terminal. Besides the exhibition provides the passengers and guests of the airport with the recent achievements of international contemporary art.


Koltsovo, Yekaterinburg, Russia
Curator: Arseny Sergeev
April 11 – July 11, 2008

Exhibition pictures

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Art Koltsovo program
Art-Koltsovo is the first strategic long-term program in Russian air industry aimed at introduction of works of art and designs inside the international Koltsovo airport and in its adjacent territory.


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PERSONAE
↳ ULISphotoFEST, Istanbul, Turkey


kiki petratou

Adonis - Artist, 2006
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The ingenuity of film and photography as art medium lies in its flexibility – most effective in documenting the raw and real and contrastingly also in staging and styling the less real. As photographer and video artist, Kiki Petratou embraces this fluidity. All protagonists in her 'Personae' series (though arguably with exception of Jan the professional dreamer) are removed from their titled vocational context. There is nothing to define Thera as the web designer or Monica as the civil servant. Instead the viewer is drawn towards an identity that is personal and delicate. Aptly reflecting the intricacy of what can constitute identity – an overt theme of much of Petratou's work – this series is by no means unambiguous. On the one hand her documentary style portraits capture a banal and raw reality typical of Martin Parr's works – all subjects are situated in mundane settings of everyday life. However, unlike Parr's subjects who are oblivious to an outside gaze, Petratou's are engaged with the viewer. There is a strange mix of vulnerability and empowerment as the subject's confront the viewer as we intrude into an intensely personal space. This combined with dramatic use of colour and lighting contributes towards a stylised representation. Part documentary and part theatre, Petratou's construction of the intimate only serves to heighten the complexity and potentiality of an apparently bounded identity.

Charlotte McLaughlin is a writer and critic.

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ULISphotoFEST, Istanbul, Turkey
Photography Institution
May 12 July 1, 2007

Exhibition pictures
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