Research Catalogue

Sculpted and painted wood, combined with treated rusty objects. Duct tape with boat paint models for metal sheet sculptures, 2020. Digital drawings, 2021, 2023. Dutch steel sailing boat part-restoration and renovation, Amsterdam (with Sean A. Hladkyj), 2019 until summer 2020. I exposed relief and improvised sculptures made with industrial paints, as well as found objects, to weather conditions, including heavy rain and wind, over a few months on a floating timber raft. Working with the changes the weather was causing to the ad hoc studio, I made changes until the painting was finished, photographed, then dumped. Someone collected the relief. I applied the colours from those available in a symbolic manner, abstracting the view of a ghetto in a large city. The objects stand for the landmarks. The pieces would comprise of the scenography for a theatre performance, informed by my conversations with a theatre lighting technician. The performance would also include a donation event of the art objects. See external link for the theatre play, based on the tradition of the philosophical dialogue and employing the idea of performing philosophy to make it accessible to a wider audience. Political asylum has been traditionally offered to people who flee from their countries of origin and citizenship, because of violations of their dignity, which is a human right, and other basic human rights, such as safety and liberty, due to their political beliefs and related activities, if any. Currently, seven human rights of mine, five basic, have been infringed in the United Kingdom, where I have been a citizen since 2011; the origin is my native Greece. Political asylum is only offered to people, who are non-citizens of the country where asylum is sought from. At the same time, political asylum has become harder to offer, due to the global nature of persecution of whoever is perceived as a dissident by authoritarians. Since 2020, Forza Nuova, the Italian affiliate of the Greek Golden Dawn, has participated in the organised international criminal case, of which I have been the target, originating from my native Greece, "accelerating" in the Netherlands and the UK in 2020, Covid-19. This happened with the theft of my personal details, specifically my Greek driver's license number, by Italians, in Amsterdam, in the winter of 2020. My number was used on three fake Italian driver's licenses,in my name known as (aka), for criminal activity in the UK. My name known as (aka) was also used on three fake Italian passports for fictitious female Albanian citizens. Notably, Roberto Fiore, Forza Nuova's leader, inherited briefly Alessandra Mussolini's post in the EU parliament. All the more so, after mediation with the Albanian government, the Italian government settled in the autumn of 2024 one remaining fake Italian passport for a fictitious Albanian citizen, probably in connection with Golden Dawn, who had their own three MPs in the EU parliament. Rumours have it that Fiore was once upon a time an MI6 agent. It is confirmed that he has ties with the British National Party (BNP), the British XRW component. Drawing on the philosophical notion of impossible objects, the works attempted an indirect postcolonial critique: a suggestion for alternative, autonomous and communitarian lifestyles; and a performative metaphor for global refugees of all kinds. At the time, in autumn 2019, I had attended an environmental protest in Amsterdam that was generally peaceful. Investigatory research with artworks, some of it carried out in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where I was a philosophy student, from 2017 until late 2019, and remained until the beginning of autumn 2020. I did not have student insurance, as it was obligatory, because I was covered by the NHS through EHIC (European Community coverage), while the UK was still in the EU. I didn't have travel insurance either. Dutch travel insurance, under the reference number E111, was opened by unknowns on my behalf in the summer of 2020, for routine women's healthcare and for family planning, but was closed as fraudulent after I reported to the Dutch fraud authority. I don't have Italian citizenship. Nevertheless, I have one-sixteenth Italian ancestry from a great grandfather on my father's family's side. His first name was Gianni. Locals in Greece, where he moved in the nineteenth century, used his Italian first name to create a Greek surname in order to hellenicise him. The reasons for leaving his native Italy to go to Greece then are unknown; so is his Italian surname. The title "Enlightenment Panel" comes from Peter Sloterdijk's 'Critique of Cynical Reason', published in 1983, which critically discusses philosophical and popular cynicism. This exposition is in progress. See exposition, also in connection with expositions under 'Art and Activism Exposed as Research Blog'.

Happening, 2016. Participant's empirical research, including improvised full recorded interview with first generation Albanian immigrants to Greece, images, and thematic text. The research was conducted for the workshop, "Logics of Worlds", inspired by Alain Badiou's work and organised by architect Filippos Oraiopoulos, at Athens School of Fine Art (ASFA), Master of Visual Arts (Marios Spiliopoulos, Giorgios Xiropaides), December 2016. Adopting on own initiative the political approach of Badiou's "L' Organisation Politique", to apply direct intervention for societal problems, including immigration and labour, I used play as a method to facilitate improvised discussions. People share and respond more freely when participating in structured, but playful interactions, such as those a game involves. Albanians speak three languages, Albanian, Italian and, only a few of them, Greek, so I wasn't able to translate parts of the conversation. Avlona is an English now obsolete name for Vlore, an Albanian seaport and former ancient Greek colony Aulon. Albanians came as non-EU refugees in Greece initially in the 1990s, after the fall of communism in their home country. Religion was banned in communist countries; nowadays, Albanian-Muslims consist of 59% of the Albanian demographics, with other religious denominations, such as Christian Catholics, taking smaller percentages of the country's population. The democratisation of Albania began shortly afterwards, in 1994, when Albanians started protesting for political and religious pluralism in their country. At the beginning of the transition period after communism, under the Democratic Party government, Vlore became a port through which smuggling, mainly from Italy, was taking place. Notably, the men I spoke to didn't want to be visualised. Hence, the exposition aims to juxtapose the experimental and the conceptual in the fine arts; and to make the 'invisible' visible. Badiou is also known for his philosophy of metaphysics of the four "truth procedures": Politics, Science, Love and Art. The workshop was slightly interrupted by a performing arts student, who brought a live hen to slaughter in the studio. This can be taken as a metaphor for scapegoating non-EU refugees, by symbolically re-assigning the gender of male, or female persons, who are not non-EU refugees. For this exposition, I include an essay by Pantelis Boukalas, in Kyriakos Katzourakis, O "Dromos Pros Ti Dysi" (The Way to the West), 2001, as well as Kyriakos Katzourakis' introduction in English. I don't have any personal or other familial connections with Albania - or Kosovo, or North Macedonia, which are both former Yugoslavian countries, all the nationalities, including Albanian, shown on fifteen (15) fake non-EU passports, used illegally in the UK since 2013 and 2014. I had never even visited those countries before the summer of 2024. I found out it's a completely different world, as ex-communist countries; for instance, in Albania, they only have state television, they don't sell Western music, they rarely play it in bars that most close at midnight, even in the summer on the coast. The 2016 project was for the purpose of researching and documenting, in an artistic ethnographic manner, the refugee and immigration crisis, as I experienced it in my native Greece, as well as to voice my opinions on this topic from my perspective as a native Greek. I spoke to non-EU economic refugees, who must not be confused with political asylum seekers: those are people who encounter persecution for political and ideological reasons from their countries of origin and citizenship - rather than illegal or legal economic immigrants, such as the men I spoke to. Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia, all the nationalities on the fake non-EU passports, including Albanian, used in the UK successively, since 2013 and 2014, are non-EU countries. Greece, my native (and my parents' and grandparents' native), has been in the EU since 1981. I have also been a UK national, by naturalisation, since 2011, for the purpose of voting and for political participation in the UK, where I have spent most of my adult life. Paradoxically - or not so paradoxically, because I had also been investigating this case - this project's political outcome, since 2020 and 2023, was that three fictitious "daughters" of mine had been on the Met police's databases, as 17, 22 and 23, Italian/Albanian female sex offenders. Supposedly, I must had been given birth to a daughter, of an unknown father, in Albania in 2001, 2002 and 2007! (!!the "prostitutes"; that's believable!!) Or two "schizophrenic" sons, Panagiotis Nigiannis, both, Albanians!; born in 2003 and 2004! as well as a son from Kosovo! born in 2009! - all of unknown fathers, because children take their father's surname. Even that wouldn't be possible, because I don't have Albanian nationality. That is simply Golden Dawn's, the BNP's (the XRW UK component), and others' cultural "imagination" with regards to Albanians and Kosovo Albanian citizens, scapegoating them, in order to cause me a serious case of digital identity fraud. Saying this, it hadn't crossed their minds that it's not possible to have more than three citizenships - and that is dependent on the countries of citizenship. I only have two. Factually speaking, in 2002, I was living in Athens, Greece, engaged to be married to my former husband, a Greek left-wing national, while I was working at MOB (Mauve) Architects, as an architect designer, with an international cohort of colleagues. I got married in 2003. I lived in Athens until 2004, where I also worked for R.C.Tech architects. In 2001 and the period after 2004, I lived in the UK, working as an architect and in higher education; I don't have children. I gained my first practical experience as an architect in the UK, working in private architectural practice from 1999 until 2002. The police files (2018, 2020-2023), created with fake IDs, were finally corrected by September 2024, including records of falsely alleged children of mine born between 2002 and 2004, when I lived and worked in my native Greece. Notably, in 2007, I was living in London since 2005, working as an EU/Greek university lecturer. When the G20 summit demonstrations took place in London, in 2009, with the known criminal case of the death of Ian Tomlison by a police officer, named Simon Harwood - the journalist, Paul Lewis, conducted the investigation and Sir Keir Starmer was the prosecutor - I had lived in the UK since 2005, working as an EU/Greek lecturer at the University of East London, where I was also known as Betty Nigianni (aka) by my students and colleagues. I never participated in any public demonstrations in the UK. However I have attended demonstrations in my native Greece and, in 2019, in the Netherlands, without ever having any interactions with police. It is not uncommon for politically-minded cultural producers and left-wing academics, to participate peacefully in public demonstrations about causes they support, such as anti-racism and anti-capitalism. This is the tradition and political legacy of the so-called "other Greek left", as well as like minded political movements globally. There are no children in my medical records, during the whole time I have lived in the UK, which is a total of seventeen years, plus, twelve of those being a British citizen. Greek children (Italian, Albanian, almost all children, besides those of British parents, who take whatever name) take their father's surname; fathers are also almost always tracked. Greeks don't have many (or any) children, they're suffering from a shrinking population for economic reasons, despite being in the EU since 1981. My concerns about serious international organised criminal activity (not even honouring children's basic rights) were reported and confirmed by the Greek, Scandinavian and Albanian state authorities, as shown in documents that I made part of this exposition, from 2022 until 2024. The British authorities have been lagging behind for a long time; intentionally, with their impossible, unverified "stories", bashing the left and the liberals - or whatever is left of them - and whoever is decent - whatever has been left of that, too. The Greek police confirmed in 2024 that all claims about children of mine, also between 2002 and 2004 when I lived in my native Greece, have been dismissed; they wanted to know what details of mine had been stolen. The Greek Golden Dawn - with their "Big Idea" (Megali Idea) of conquering foreign countries, like North Macedonia and the Southern part of Albania, as well as their chronic attacks on immigrants and refugees in Greece - was convicted as a criminal organisation in October 2020, after a five year long public prosecution, which started in 2015, with the then left-wing SYRIZA government, and was concluded in autumn 2020, under the 2019 elected New Democracy government. Golden Dawn invented the 'concept' of the 'Real Greek', dependent on any Greek's political orientation. They also dig up their target's ancestry: in my case, covering three generations, there are seven (7) Greek ancestors on my father's side, plus one (1), who was an Italian ancestor, my father's grandfather, with the first name Gianni, surname unknown; and eight (8) Greek ancestors on my mother's side. Golden Dawn has been losing their sixty seven (67) appeals and early releases, because of my international work that has been very risky, due to the organised crime methods followed in this case and all of Golden Dawn's criminal cases. The conversation included in this exposition took place during the period Golden Dawn was prosecuted in the Greek High Courts of Justice (Areios Pagos). I was living in Athens at the time, from the summer of 2015 and remained until 2017, during the period the SYRIZA left-wing Greek party was in government for the first time in Greek politics, which was historic on its own. Despite the fact they were frightened, many non-EU immigrants to Greece provided testimonies in the courts during that same period. Manolis Glezos was the only Greek politician, who went to visit Magda Fyssa, Pavlos' mother, in the Greek courts. For Pavlos Fyssas, aka Killah P; assassinated at age 34. For Alain Badiou, a communist-Maoist political philosopher, and the OP. For the abducted Albanian and of Albanian ethnicity immigrants. For Michalis Katsouris; assassinated at age 29. For the "Other Greek Left". Thanks to the Albanian embassy in London, the General Directorate of the State's Police in Tirane (some still call it "communist" police, though I must admit I didn't liaise with any Albanian police officers that appeared remotely communist; in my view, it's just not neo-liberalised), as well as the Durres police, mentioning I am not tax subject in Albania, and the Durres prosecutor, who took my case in autumn 2024. Thanks to Edi Rama and his Socialist Party, a coalition of left-wing parties, government, for all the work that was done in the summer of 2024, during my first ever visit to Albania; they offered me an informal political asylum, based on my case that Rama's government found critical. Thanks to the Norwegian Labour Party of Jonas Ghar Store and left-wing coalition government; they offered me formal political asylum and a settlement with my Greek passport, since Norway is in Schengen. They also settled financially four fake Albanian passports with Albania. Thanks to Skopje police and Prishtine police; as well as the newly elected, after my visit, Socialist Party in North Macedonia. Thanks to the Italian police at Bari. Last but not least: thanks to the Greek police chief, Marinos Stagakis, and the Greek police organised crime division, specifically Ioannis Papakostas, who spoke to me on the phone in the summer of 2022, offering a starting point. Thanks to the Swedish London embassy and the Norwegian London embassy that confirmed the identified and reported NRM membership. Thanks to the US London embassy that came in late, in the summer of 2024; the work hasn't finished. Thanks to the Oslo Greek embassy, autumn 2024, for handling my application for my new Greek passport within a short time frame. Thanks to the French police, autumn 2024. THANKS to the Swedish police, autumn 2024. Finally, thanks to the exceptionally few Met police officers, who eventually figured it out, as well as those British, such as the current British prime minister, Keir Starmer, since 2023, which is when I first got to know of him, by researching his profile online - special thanks, since we have never met; and others, working behind the scenes for the last three years or so; but also more recently in Albania, Germany, and Sweden. It would not have been possible without them. It has been a long process with many obstacles along the way, seemingly insurmountable, but as proven not. For peace and for safeguarding democracy and everything that comes with it. Investigatory research, with legal and political activism, surrounded by artworks, 2016-2024. The text is written like a very long rap song. References: Fred C. Abrahams, "Modern Albania: From Dictatorship to Democracy in Europe", New York: New York University Press, 2015. Counterextremism Project, "Violent, Right-wing Extremism and Terrorism - Transnational Connectivity, Definitions, Incidents, Structures and Countermeasures", November 2020, available online. See all expositions under Art and Activism Exposed as Blog: "Debris", "The Loot" and "XRW (Implicature)".

This project combines artistic and anthropological research on spontaneous gardening in open public space, predominantly in Brno, CZ. The team, mostly comprising recent graduates and graduate students of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Brno University of Technology, chose gardens and plantings which were, in most cases, rather exceptional. Unlike most typical front gardens, the ones in this study are somehow peculiar, due to their location, their composition and planting schemes, their scale, or methods of those who garden there. The anthropologists on the team analyzed a Facebook group dedicated to street gardening and conducted several interviews, while the artistic team responded to particular places with which they interacted. Some results of this research have been presented to the public in the form of an application comprising an audioguide and an interactive map; this exposition in the Research catalogue documents some of these findings. The team Barbora Lungová is a visual artist and has taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Brno University of Technology since 2007. Her field of practice is painting and art projects focusing on plants, gardening, and queerness. She is the coordinator of the Partisans with a Hoe project. Lucia Bergamaschi is a visual artist working across the media of photography, sound, and installation. She earned an MA in Fine Art at Università Iuav di Venezia and an MA in Law at Università di Bologna. She is currently finishing her MA studies at the FFA BUT. Nela Maruškevičová combines painting, installations, and glass in her artistic practice. She is a 2023 graduate of the FFA BUT. Kateřina Konvalinová is a visual artist interested in the overlapping spaces of art, communal life, farming, and ritual. She earned her MA in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and is currently a doctoral student at the FFA BUT. Iva Balcaříková is a graphic designer and a member of the team behind the curated audio walks created by Galerie Art in Brno. She is currently finishing her MA studies at the FFA BUT. Hana Drštičková is a visual artist and a social anthropologist interested in environmental and queer topics. She graduated with an MA in Fine Arts from the FFA BUT in 2022 and with a BA in social anthropology from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Masaryk University and is currently a doctoral student at the Gender Studies Department of Charles University in Prague. Anastasia Blokhina is a social anthropologist who graduated with an MA tfrom the Faculty of Social Sciences of Masaryk University in 2022. Polyna Davydenko is a photographer and a video artist who documents social and environmental issues in her work, most recently those connected with the war in Ukraine. Filip Dušek is a media artist who studied at the Department of Photography at the FFA BUT. The project was conducted under the Specific Research FaVU-S-23-8441 Program.

Living Lines of the Barely Noticeable is a long-term artistic research project aiming to develop distinct artistic approaches to relate to and interact with flying insects and provide the artistic research with a theoretical and practical context by reflecting on relationships and connections with the more-than-human world that occurred within the research. The research aimed to explore ways and manners, that can contribute to more meaningful relationships with a more-than-human entity. This resulted firstly in approaches that explored ways to relate to flying insects: reflective attempts studying glimpses and tatters of ‘insectness’ and the circumstances that shaped the way we related to each other. Secondly, I developed approaches that explored manners of being close to (or intimate with) flying insects. These approaches involved more active, hands-on experiments and attempts to interact with flying insects. Download Accessible PDF

How can we practice, think, and write contemporary circus beyond the human? What would it mean to create new modes of performance that would (re)valorize the animal in the ring? This exposition presents an exploration of the inventive, creative, and active dimensions of non-human animals in the context of circus. In 2022, we — Natan Hansi Alberca (multidisciplinary visual artist), Franziska Trapp (dramaturge and researcher), and Sabrina Sow (equestrian artist) — came together to create a vivid dialogue between practice and reflection, artistic and academic research, informed and naive approaches. We now exhibit our exchange through video installations, academic writings, and poems, that expand on, express agreement with, or contradict each other. Our intention is to make perceptible how artistic and reflective processes are fundamentally intertwined. Download Accessible PDF

This exposition charts the creation and musical-narrative structure of Pearl, my recent composition for symphony chorus, orchestra, and solo baritone: a setting of extracts from the medieval poem Perle, translated into modern English by Simon Armitage, commissioned as part of the BBC Proms in 2022. Envisioned as a contemporary adaptation of the poem’s historically distant, yet somehow timelessly poignant and continually resonant story, Pearl takes the form of a musical narrative that evokes both past and present, through personal and more universal reflections on the nature of loss, grief, and acceptance. By drawing together analytical techniques taken from musical theories of narrative (principally Byron Almén 2008), musical topics, and the adaptation of narratives across media (Marie-Laure Ryan 2014), with a self-narrative approach to documenting my practice in action (as advocated by Christopher Leedham and Martin Scheuregger 2018), I unpack my creative approach to Pearl in what might be understood as ‘bricolage’ as proposed by Robyn Stewart (2007). Constructing a ‘new story’ through a ‘plurality of approaches’, I adopt Stewart’s methodological eclecticism to theorize and situate the work as a musical narrative. However, through the slippage that occurs between narratology and self-narrativization, Pearl is shown to also mirror and situate my personal artistic experiences as a contemporary practitioner. In response to the recent and ongoing debate about the nature and validity of Practice Research in Composition, the article addresses calls to share the ‘messy, complicated, uncertain, and soft’ (Arthur Bochner 2000) aspects of the artistic process suggesting a more open, and even collaborative, role for the sharing of compositional research. Download Accessible PDF