Large Form Logic
Amidst an outbreak of irrationality, we are called upon to set up barricades of reason. Drawing inspiration from selected excerpts by Immanuel Kant and Hegel, aided by a post-punk text by George-Icaros Babassakis and the poetic lines of Nikos Karouzos, the artists are called upon to create works of geometric logic. The title of the collective presentation in this year’s “Back to Athens” is precisely the title of the last collection of poems published by Karouzos.
“Enough!” Sufficit! These were the last words, in this case the very last word, followed by the last breath. 219 years ago, on a Sunday in 1804, February 12nd. Hegel is punk, Immanuel Kant is beatnik and rock ’n’ roll. Hegel takes us out on the streets, Kant is the street, and not only the street outside, but the one inside as well, the inner alley, the inmost avenue. “Night is sublime; day is beautiful,” he asserts in Observations on the feeling of the beautiful and sublime. He is famous for his clockwork precision, a stratagem perhaps to halt decline, to weaken the Grand Magister, Time. You can abolish a tyrant through hyperbole. The people of Königsberg adjusted their watches upon seeing the philosopher come out for his afternoon stroll, such was his precision. Towards the end of his life, he would explain everything through electricity. The exquisite Thomas de Quincey informs us that a weird mortality which befell “the cats of Vienna, Basel, Copenhagen and other places very distant from one another” he attributed to electricity. The same with several intense headaches of his. They say he wrote in his diary: “No surrender now to panics of darkness.” At the same time, he didn’t hesitate to fund his studies by offering private tuition and by billiards betting. Concerning the man of sanguine temperament he points out he possesses a heightened sense of beauty. “When he is not happy he is gloomy and does not know composed tranquility. He seeks joy inside and around himself, is cheerful among others and a good companion.” One of his contemporaries, a great mind and a great man, Herder, wrote of Kant: “His open, thoughtful brow was the seat of undisturbed cheerfulness and joy; language rich in thought flowed from his lips; jokes, wit, and good humor were at his command; and his instructive lectures were the greatest of entertainment. [...] He encouraged and pleasantly compelled his hearers to think for themselves; despotism was foreign to his mind. This man, whom I mention with the greatest thankfulness and esteem, is Immanuel Kant.” As for myself, I was from the very beginning greatly and fecundly impressed by the phrase “an algebra of the employment of reason,” which may have reminded me of William S. Burroughs, but in fact has to do with the way the Kantian system was viewed by scholars at the dawn of the 20th century.
George-Icaros Babassakis
Artists: Kostas Tsolis, Eufrosyni Mytilineou, Nikos Papadimitriou, Vassilis Gerodimos, Eleni Babassaki, Pantelis Chandris, Nikos Navridis, Katerina Zacharopoulou, Katarzyna Wojtczak, Uli Schueppel.
The following are in conversation: Giorgos Faraklas (Professor of Political Philosophy at Panteion University), Spiros Tegos (Lecturer of Early Modern Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy and Social Studies of the University of Crete), Niketas Siniossoglou (Senior Researcher at the National Hellenic Research Foundation) and Yannis Koilis (author & translator) will be called upon to discuss with the curator, and amongst themselves, the urgency of reason in our times.
Reading: Peris Michailidis (actor) will be called upon to recite out of Nikos Karouzos’ Large Form Logic and selected excerpts from works by Immanuel Kant and Hegel.
«Large Form Logic» curated by George-Icaros Babassakis is realized in the context of Back to Athens 10: Geometry of racional.
Back to Athens 10 International Art Meeting | 2023: Geometry of racional is curated by:
Georg Georgakopoulos, Fotini Kapiris, Christian Rupp.
Organised by APART Art Research and Applications.
Support/ participation: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports [Financial support & Auspices for «Glorious Elements/Plastic Kisses»], City of Athens [Auspices], Austrian Embassy in Athens, Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport, ZOIA, Land Tirol, Czech Center of Athens, CHEAPART, ARTmART, Modular expansion, Participation: Athens Intersection Cultural Program.
Back to Athens 10 International Art Meeting | 2023: Geometry of racional
Isaiah Mansion
65 Patission & Ioulianou, Athens, 104 33
Opening: Tuesday, June 28, 2023, 16:00 - 22:00
Duration: June 28 – July 2, 2023
Hours: Wednesday– Friday 16:00 - 22:00, Saturday – Sunday 12:00 – 22:00
