Title: S.O.S.
Description: Site-performance for camera, light torch, found traffic cone, sea
Technical: HD video, 16:9, colour, stereo
Year: 2023
Geo-coordinates: 37.565294, 22.793053
Concept / Notes
“In the port of Nafplio, with the historical Bourtzi as a background, a sunken traffic cone comes to life by the light of a torch which shines with an SOS rhythm like a new awakening of the shape and also of the unexpected location of the cone. In the sea the light of the torch ascribes new meaning to the cone. Just as a defibrillator gives life to a person, so the lens mediates to draw our attention to the new condition – function of the cone“, says Vlachaki.
Vlachaki creates a site-specific performance for camera at the coastal sea front of the city; having the found object of a sunken traffic cone in the sea water as a surreal finding with semiotic potential. Light becomes a way of transmitting the international message of SOS to a cone that its meaning has been shifted from the everyday warning system to a fluid absurd context. The work reveals poetics and politics of SOS in a post-pandemic era of meta-truth, social and economic crisis, in such a way that it becomes metamodern. Sincere and ironic, romantic and fragmented. Is it a false alarm? Has the cone lost its confidence? Transience and the potential of silent walkers as observers, render message bolder. (Bill Psarras, curator)
Transient Luminous Events 