Catalogue > At random

monstera deliciosa; an originally tropical plant, which is now very popular as an indoor plant, used as an aesthetic, decorative object. Inside our houses, they claim for their space, their freedom, their existence. In this work, monstera becomes a comparison with and the symbol of our very own internment experience, deriving from the recent lockdown. A state, for which we have not been prepared for, that brought a destabilization in various aspects, deviating us from our familiar course and directions. As if the world was blown away in a delirious drift and suddenly or better, violently, derailed, but in terms of a shocking, unexpected pause. In this narration video, the consecutive scenes of indoor life, shown in a back and forth motion, eliminate the perception of time and connote a disarray process, a state of turbulence or surprise, with the parallel narration, consisting in the protagonist plant’s features; inertia bodies, the monstera in an indoor tropical storm, wild animals in captivity, lighting bolts, along with an orgasm scene, a Luchador* getting prepared, footage from an athenian balcony during the lockdown period. The strobe lights used, tent to reveal the party echo and intensify the feeling that something is about to start. In this field of desire, reality, struggle, memory and expectation, a whole new perception of being developed. The accumulated tension that the state of hold has brought, leads to the persistent bodies’ preparation for wrestling and crash. Through the way we perceive the body, how we contemplate its inner rhythm, our physical beingness, this work aims to trace layers of now, potential and future options of (co) existence, as an “expedition chronicle”, about what is getting prepared and about the totally new emerging context, culture and daily life. *Luchador is the term used in Mexico for the professional wrestlers. Text Credits: Pavlina Kyrkou

Vera Chotzoglou is a Visual artist working with time based media. They are an Athens School of Fine arts’ BA & MFA graduate, Department of Visual Arts, Fine Arts & Art Education (2013-2018). They had studied in Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with an Erasmus+ scholarship. They was awarded with audience award for the shortfilm S W E A T at 22th Thessaloniki International GLAD Film Festival (2021) , SNF Artist Fellowship Award by Stavros Niarchos Foundation(2019) Scholarship to cover Degree Expenses from Athens School of Fine arts(2018) and audience award for the short film “Munich almost killed me ½” at 2th Piraeus Film Festival in Athens(2018). They has exhibited internationally at 22th Thessaloniki International GLAD Film Festival Thessaloniki-Greece (2021), Interface video art festival, Zagreb-Croatia (2020), 26th Athens International Film Festival (2020), Centrum Berlin, Berlin, Germany (2020), Eos Gallery (2019), Athens, A.Antonopoulou Gallery, Athens (2019), GRRL HAUS CINEMA, Berlin (2019), Hacker Porn Film Festival, Rome (2019), Platforms project, Athens (2019), Foto Wien, Austria (2019), 6th Athens Biennale, Athens, Greece,(2018) Inshort Film Festival, Lagos, Nigeria (2018), Action Field Kodra, Thessaloniki (2018), 2th Pireus Film Festival,Athens (2018), Bellevue di Monaco, Munich (2016), TAF Gallery, Athens (2013) et al. ?hey work may be found in private collections. Vera Chotzoglou lives and works between Athens & Berlin