ART-PRESENTATION: Vicky Betsou-Splitting Mechanism
Vicki Betsou’s solo exhibition “Splitting Mechanism” at the Athens Conservatory is one of the most interesting and well-structured exhibitions (in every level) in Athens lately. Vicky Betsou as a genuine video artist, creates a visual environment of screens, where the viewer is embedded in her work in a masterly manner.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Vicky Betsou Archive
The interaction of the viewer in Vicky Betsou’s video installation “Splitting Mechanism” is both emotional and psychological, is involved both in the method the artist places the screens in the space and in the way that the viewer makes a route that needs to pass through them and to feel not only the mental but also the emotional fragility of relationships. In the Victorian era a new category of objects has come in to being, the category designated by the word “bibelot”, whose meaning has evolved to encompass a wide range of goods, ranging from mass produced trinkets to priceless collector’s items. The bibelot of an embraced couple, is reference to a familiar image of the past, it reminds us of the urban lounges of the 80’s. In “Splitting Mechanism” this familiar image is the starting point for a process of re-creating and rebuilding a new world, since the balance of the old one has been overthrown. Vicky Betsou is dealing with the delicate and fragile relationship of a couple, that through their body posture we realize that people get harder over time… in contrast to the carelessness of children having a pillow fight in the next video, where caress, lightness, and flexibility emerges. The artworks are imposing in a space also impressive, where the fragments of a fragmented world, are explored and try to detect and decode by birds in the next video, a symbol of the natural deterioration of human relationships involving a course of no return. The course of “Splitting Mechanism” completes with an installation of bibelots of couples, created by the artist in a light bank, which allows the viewer to examine every detail but this repetition and multiplication reveals the differentiation and diversity in their relation. Vicky Betsou’s artworks in “Splitting Mechanism”, but also all her work, are deeply poetic and emotional but all this emotional tension is not perceived directly but indirectly. Even the color in her images, while there, eventually disappears into black and white and becomes one the strong elements of her narrative writing in space. As part of the exhibition, on Feb 20, at 20:00, students of the Dance school of Athens Conservatory present an ongoing project, which is being developed as part of the Improvisation / Choreography course taught by the School’s Director, Lila Zafiropoulou.
Info: Μulti–purpose Space Ω2, Athens Conservatory, Vasileos Georgiou B’ 17-19, Athens, Duration 11-21//2/20, Mon-Fri 11:30-21:00, Sat 11:30-19:00, www.athensconservatoire.gr
