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ELENI PANOUKLIA
 

VERTICAL FLIGHT 2003

“Three parallel grids made of black thread divide the room in three layers. The grid is used in the same way it would be used during an archeological excavation. The room was originally built to host the refugees who came to Greece after the destruction of Smirni but is now used by whoever might need refuge (a homeless person, an addict, an immigrant, etc). The leftovers of its various uses are incoherent. They are layered in space in chronological order.
The layer, which refers to the present, is an “active field” because it is the only space in the room that can still be used. The other three layers are “inactive fields” because neither the spaces themselves nor the furniture in them. The “inactive fields” refer to the past: the history that cannot be changed. The fit to use space is compressed. One can move around in the “active field” only by balancing on the free surfaces of the furniture (chair, table, night table) and the in-between steps of the ladder, which does not lead anywhere to begin with.”