Antigoni „Bunny“ Tsagkaropoulou
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The spatial presence of the three larger-than-life fantasy figures is striking. As they sway gently, the neon-colored figures invite the audience into their world. The animal-human hybrids are made of synthetic fur, velvet, and synthetic vinyl, and feature painted elements. They invite everyone to become a part of their community. A first encounter is made through the soft exterior of the beings. Like soft toys, the huge creatures can be touched and hugged. Tsagkaropoulous wished to create intimacy by enabling viewers to get up close with the 2 x 2m figures, which would, in turn, open the viewer for the political concerns and the artist’s utopian design. The figures’ accessories indicate their membership in the queer community. They wear extravagant shoes with high heels, punk jewelry, and jewelry from the BDSM scene, such as chains, rings, piercing, and painted tattoos. The shapes and forms of the fantasy creatures are created gradually during the process of stitching them together.

Part of the sculptural installation is the poem written on a wall that characterizes the figures, named Lilly, Thunder, and Crystal, and describes their world. The connecting band of the figures is their sisterhood and femininity, from which their community is founded, and which nourishes their unique coexistence. The atmospherically dense poem describes a world that is as real as it is fictional, and in which thoughts can expand, so that it is possible to transcend boundaries. Creatures of the night, the figures are reminiscent of bats and vampires. In their community, blood is drunk and given to those in need. Their kinship arises via a blood connection, but not through family bloodlines, but rather an alternative, futuristic sense of family.

In Tsagkaropoulous’ utopia, elective kinship and community care are the foundation for survival in a post-apocalyptic world. The background of Tsagkaropoulous’ installation is the socio-political consequences that resulted from the restrictions to contain the global pandemic: Inflexible gender roles, unequal distribution of care responsibilities, domestic violence, femicide, state controls, and simultaneously the loss of jobs and the growth of social inequalities.

The experience of contact restrictions had particularly grave consequences for political subcultures. For the artist, preventing subcultures from exchanging ideas and restricting people in their movements has a political dimension. This is particularly dangerous for people whose homes are not safe places. Despite the limited social interaction, Tsagkaropoulou found a lively queer scene in Berlin, whose community and cohesion inspired her to create the utopian installation. The goal of the installation is to offer alternative narratives around collectivity, that often go unheard, and in this way, to invite viewers to immerse themselves in other worlds.

Text: Dr. Silke Förschler

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About Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou:

Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou „Bunny“ (b. 1993) live and work in Athens. In their work they explore notions of subjectivity, sexuality, gender, desire and coexistence. Their multidisciplinary work consists of participatory installations, performances and experimental poetic texts. In doing so, they create visionary fictions and subversively show alternative ways of perceiving the world and the subject within it. In 2018 they created Fluffy Library, a year-long hybrid project produced by the non-profit cultural organization ATOPOS cvc in Athens, in the framework of the „World Book Capital“ (UNESCO) Athens 2018 and supported by the non-profit organization NEON in Athens. In 2019, Fluffy Library was presented as a solo exhibition at the Arnolfini Centre of Contemporary Arts in Bristol, UK. Antigoni’s works have also been shown at the 6th Thessaloniki Biennial „Imagined Homes“, the 10th Berlin Biennial „We don’t need another hero“ in collaboration with Fabiana Faleiros, the „Manifestos for Queer Futures“ Festival at HAU Hebbel Am Ufer in Berlin, the Alternative Stage of the National Opera of Greece, the 60th Thessaloniki International Film Festival and at the Goethe Institut Athens. They have collaborated with many artists such as Quimera Rosa and Brooke Candy in their video clip „CUM“. Their latest project is a universally accessible film titled DEN-TATA PEARLS, commissioned and produced by the Onassis Foundation for the Borderline Festival 2021.

For more information: Instagram

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