New Forms of Presence | Coming Soon

As the world stands still, in the absence of physicality, new forms of presence prevail.

We choose to employ this forced intermission, and suspended time, as a source of new reflections and perspectives. A moment to choose within the systems of thought and imagination we can still access, allowing this phase to evolve from darkness into light. An attempt to bring forth new forms of connection, new habits of life, expression, [and] activity within the temporary physical disconnectedness which, paradoxically, binds us all together.

A chance to shift our focus, allowing this phase of global emergency to enhance a spirit of community within the creative “tribe.”

In “New Forms of Presence,” we are invited to think beyond our “familiar form of presence”; to step out of our comfort zone, to shed the “presence,” “identity,” and “ego” that we have traditionally identified with. We have curated a series of concepts and formats that emerge as core or underlying themes, and aspects, in the oeuvre or discourse of the MDFF Greece—Athens’s participants — and beyond.

The guests are invited to reinvent themselves through a series of personal semiotics, always connected to each one’s oeuvre or discourse; to present, connect, and communicate, beyond their “familiar form of presence,” allowing new shapes of being to come forth. We invite responses of various forms of expression, carriers of different meanings “designed” with authenticity, transparency, and an “unfiltered” approach, that reflect upon these concepts, and at the same time, zoom in, and raise the curtain, revealing an intimate self-portrait.

 

 

In the Presence of Absence, what new forms of presence prevail within the polyphonic essence of the ordinarily sacred?
How do we stay present?
How do we choose to respond?

In the Presence of Absence, what emerges as particularly noticeable?
What do we pay attention to?
What do we choose to connect to? How do we choose to connect?

In the Presence of Absence, how sustainable are our emotions?
How do we filter our thoughts? 
How many of our questions are legitimate to receive our (own) answer?

In the Presence of Absence, what new meanings originate?
What is old, and what is outdated?
What are the new daily patterns that arise within our digital ecosystem? How do our digital senses coexist with our cognitive ones?
What is the new face of innovation?
Which are the thriving specimens of human inspiration?

In the Presence of Absence, what sort of transformations are triggered?
How do we re-channel our gift to make things?
How can creativity enable new futures?

In the Presence of Absence, what is the sound of the silence, the whisper, the scream ?
What is communicative, and what is distractive?
How do we relocate ourselves within a dual essence?

In the Presence of Absence, how many realities merge on common ground?
How many events, experiences, and perspectives overlap?
How do conditions flow and identities remain still?

In the Presence of Absence, how can we unmake and remake worlds? How can we reorder pre-set hierarchies?
When does actuality encounter imagination?

In the Presence of Absence, which are the cultural, political, social, and natural echoes?
What are the remarks made by our cities?
What is nature’s song about?

In the Presence of Absence, how would one describe the attire of the everyday preparedness?
How do we fit in?
What is the meaning of self-reliance?

In the Presence of Absence, how can we change with change, if we choose to change?
What are the new meanings of adaptation, access, and resilience?
What new forms of appreciation take precedence?

In the Presence of Absence, what memories and understandings are drawn upon our domestic walls?
Is there a uniform vision?
How a series of daily ritual acts confront inevitability until all eventually return to a better state than the one imprinted in our recollection?

In the Presence of Absence, how can we re-qualify our personal and collective territories?
What is local, and what is global? What is the new acceptable?
Are nations and nationalities the new phantoms?

In the Presence of Absence, how do we surf the plethora of unknown facts in our hands?
How can creativity’s neutral ground, all-inclusive, and proactive language, create new meanings around existing frames of reference?

In the Presence of Absence, how do we relate to time?
How does the ephemeral re-appear?
How do we take time to give time for something solid to generate?

In the Presence of Absence, how many temporary identities and contexts surface?
How do we collect information?
How can coincidences invite us into the endless possibilities to see life?

In the Presence of Absence, how do our senses react?
What our diary entries narrate?
How do we transform the way we look at anything that directly or indirectly forms part of our microcosm?

In the Presence of Absence, where does it lie the intimate yet universal dimension?
How can we regenerate even in the absence of the familiar “material” mirrors of our own capacities?
How do we revisit new forms of balance to face complexity?

In the Presence of Absence, how does one interpret constant connectedness to disconnectedness?
With what do we replace our old preoccupations?
How can something “ugly” make something beautiful even more beautiful?

 

By Annie Markitanis