Katerina Nikou: Within the framework of the current circumstances, which we all experience differently, do you identify any relations between reality and mythology?

Andreas Angelidakis: I guess mythology itself was originally based on some type of reality but also sociology or even a study of human behaviour, so it will always be connected. Reality though is much more slippery than mythology, because mythology is more or less a fixed narrative, whereas reality is subjective and very much affected by psychology. Your reality is different than mine, and both could easily be the result of our personal fiction.

KN: Why do you define Europe as a location in Vessel?

AA: I don't, the location is and has always been, the internet.

KN: Vessel was an object, which was carrying a message in antiquity. Is there any equivalent object in contemporary society?

AA: In the video, I talk about the ancient decorated vessels as a type of ancient social media, so the obvious answer is already in the work. But our relationship to objects has evolved since Antiquity, perhaps even since last year. Even a seminal book such as Jean Baudrillard’s The System of Objects (also the title of the international group exhibition curated by Andreas Angelidakis at Deste Foundation, Athens, based on the collections of Dakis Ioannou), would be re-written today to adjust to how we read the messages that objects carry. Just now, I passed by a shop in downtown Athens, which was proudly announcing that they sell the Kendal and Kylie workout tights. In front of the Kendal poster was a homeless drug addict trying to find a free vein to shoot up. It's hard to understand what anything means anymore, what message the Kardashian product was trying to convey, and what it would offer once purchased.

KN: Can you name a building that will remain as a monument one thousand years from now?

AA: I doubt any building will be a future monument, because now we understand buildings as perhaps the ultimate neoliberal tool for “development”, and I guess buildings were always power signifiers. But hopefully now we can see them for what they are. What would make a great monument are notions like Universal Basic Income, rather than that. I always think of monuments as commemorating past achievements of past civilizations; we should think of monuments as societal goals, as places we want to arrive at.

KN: Vessel has a strong reference to post-processual archaeology. Do you believe in a linear narration of history?

AA: I had to google “post-processual archaeology” to even know what it is. I find it hard to think of history at all, because what becomes official history has gone through so much political editing. I imagine that If we look at how most national histories are taught in schools, we would find them to be wildly subjective, to the point of being mostly made-up propaganda drivel. An easy example would be the History of Modern Greece, as it was and perhaps is still taught in schools, mostly a propaganda for the Greek Orthodox Church, which is like being taught history that fits the narrative of a commercial corporation like WallMart or Ikea.

I’m happy to let go of things, so I’d rather forget. And the present is shifting so fast these days, maybe our time will be seen like as a total blur, when looked back from the future. Maybe there will be nothing to see, like that Woody Allen film Deconstructing Harry, where Harry, played by Robin Williams, is out of focus, literally becoming blurred, you cannot see him anymore.

KN: In the video, you mention Diogenes the Cynic for his life inside a pot with his dog. Do you find any similarities with him?

AA: I guess I admire Diogenes because he felt that the system was rigged and decided to play outside it, to be an outsider with a clear purpose. I guess he was a Bernie Sanders type more than anything.

KN: If screens are a powerful tool of interaction in contemporary society, what would be the alternative for people who do not have access to technology?

AA: I am not sure that contemporary society can exist without access to technology. I’m afraid that access to technology can be minimized only at a super rich exclusive GOOP fantasy where you spend an entire week making Kombucha or similar. Whoever needs to make a living needs technology and a screen.