https://www.michaliszacharias.info/pendulum/pendulum.html
2023
Pendulum is an older work, back from 2017, depicting an abandoned setting for a conference in the context of the 4th International. As an imaginary scenario, the work implies a sudden cancellation of the conference, where the organizers escaped the danger of persecution. A historic reference used as a parabole, generating connotations towards the unfulfillment of utopianism, the grand narratives of the 20th century, and the need to re-examine all the above in today’s terms. Initially created as a 3d model on outdated software, the work was abandoned as a dead-end sketch, especially after Ahmet Öğüt presented a similar sculpture a few months later. In 2023, during an extended revision of older projects, an idea was to finalize the work as a web 3D instance. The file had to be converted several times in order to be opened, edited, and uploaded, which resulted in a series of glitches, artifacts, flipped polygons, and loss of its textures. Although it was possible to repeat the process and have the model corrected, the distorted version was selected as the final work, as its defects, in a way highlight the narrative’s concept. The work was finally uploaded as a virtual installation in memory of Ilya Kabakov, on the 28th of May 2023, a day after his death.
Michalis Zacharias
Greece
Michalis Zacharias was born in Athens in 1976 where he lives and works. He studied Fine Arts at the Athens School of Fine Arts(1995-2001), where he also attended the postgraduate program “Digital arts”(2003-2006). An important part of his work is the use of public domain material, open-source software, and the internet, not only as a source but also as a toolbox for the above practice. He has participated in many group exhibitions in Greece, and has presented two solo shows.