ΠΝΥΞ

The Pnyx is a rocky hill in the heart of Athens, surrounded by parkland. On its slope lies a vast platform of eroded rock, as well as the orator's stone. From 507 BC onwards, the Athenians gathered on the Pnyx to hold their popular assemblies. In order to strengthen the power of the assembly and reduce the influence of the aristocracy on the politics of the polis, they thus established a direct democracy that granted equal rights to ‘free citizens’ – but excluding women, slaves and foreigners. This ‘parliament of the world’ ensured, on the one hand, the equal application of the laws, whilst at the same time serving as a popular assembly capable of punishing and neutralising citizens if they posed a threat to the state or were potential tyrants.

While taking a walk through Athens, Angela Melitopoulos, Kerstin Schroedinger, and Stefanie Schulte Strathaus were discussing the theme of the upcoming Archival Assembly edition when they came across the Pnyx. The idea for the opening film was born.

The entire opening program will be announced shortly.

Angela Melitopoulos is an artist and realizes experimental media art pieces, mostly multi-screen video installations. Her film installations on mnemonic politics stand for resistant subjectivities and post-colonial alliances within historical contexts shaped by imperialist violence, fascism, and nation-state oppression of migration in the 20th century. Her videos have been shown at festivals, exhibitions, and museums internationally. She holds a PhD in Visual Cultures from Goldsmiths, University of London, and has taught media art at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and HfG Karlsruhe. Melitopoulos/Schroedinger have been collaborating since 2019 and have a music project named Zonkey.

Kerstin Schroedinger works on long-term, research-based projects at the intersection of film, sound, and performance, engaging with the social and political formations of time-based media through their historicity and materiality. She is currently a University Researcher at the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki. Schroedinger’s works have been screened and exhibited across the world, including at CIC Cairo, Whitney Museum of American Art New York, 17th Istanbul Biennial, 2nd Kyiv Biennial, and have been featured at international film festivals in Berlin, Hong Kong, and Toronto, among many others. Melitopoulos/Schroedinger have been collaborating since 2019 and have a music project named Zonkey.