In 1687, a great frost fell in Ioannina. It lasted for one month, starting in the 28th of January, and kept the lake frozen. Then, because of the Carnival, the people of Ioannina, Christians, Muslims and Jews all went to the lake. They were believing that this was a miracle of nature so they enjoyed their time drinking wine, playing to music, while at the same time the vendors had set up a bazaar on the icy lake. In order not to slip, everyone put large pieces of wood under their shoes. My main idea was inspired by the story described above, aiming to highlight the coexistence, the settlement and the passage of the main communities that were created in the city of Ioannina. In this specific work I try to capture, with as little media as possible, the spatial and temporal coexistence of the three cultures and regions (Christians, Jews, Muslims) that were settled in the city of Ioannina at the same time while they were all using the lake of Ioannina, named Pamvotis, as a common space. I created a sonic installation in the area around the mausoleum in Aslan Mosque. This sonic installation is consisted of songs who represent these three cultures and were traditionally used in their celebration events.
Christos Vagiatas was born in Athens in 1990. He studied on a graduate and post-graduate level at the department of Fine Arts and Sciences of Art of the University of Ioannina. He lives and works in Athens. His work has been shown in two solo exhibitions, in group exhibitions, workshops and residencies; parts of it have been sold to public and private collections in Greece and abroad. In 2013-2014, he obtained a scholarship by Onassis Foundation for postgraduate studies in Greece, and in 2018 he participated in the Stavros Niarchos Artist Fellowship Program by ARTWORKS. In his work, he deals with boundaries in terms of their representation and meaning. He uses boundaries as a structural entity, sets boundaries in space, intervening and creating new spatial conditions by using linear elements and simple forms of recognizable symbols. On the other hand, the form of boundaries becomes a codified discourse asking questions and raising concerns about the perception of their nature as an experience. In his most recent work, he draws large-scale projects for open, public spaces. He believes that these places, apart from their architectural and urban features, are social spaces shaped by their use and misuse as well as by the daily itineraries of their users.
