For the proposes of Anthropological field and the artistic research in the context of my master thesis “Spatial Ataraxia” at the KhB Weißensee, I stayed five weeks on the isolated Mount Athos in Greece, exploring the practice of Asceticism with particular reference to the case of the communal ascetic society of Great Lavra Monastery (founded in 972 AD). During my stay, I created a series of performative documentations, using my body as a unit of measurement and as a medium for exploring the spiritual and material significations at this sacred center. I focused on the ascetic body, the sacred material culture and the byzantine aesthetics on the concept of the emotional and the immaterial affect created by a community of interest.
The artistic research “Spatial Ataraxia” purpose to a metaphor (gr: transport, transmission or allegory) for the ascetics (gr: discipline, education or practice) and the epiphanies (gr: knowledge, revelation, surface). The aim of this artistic research is to highlight the characteristics of the physically and the spiritual connectivity of the body and its environmental coexistence in order to achieve self-healing and its transcendental divinity.
The analysis of the place identity which seeks to present the case of the sacred space of the Great Lavra Monastery (founded 972 A.D) through participatory observation, discourse analysis and mapping a range of physical and mental elements, suggests the empirical and effective emotional spaces that focus on the individual and collective ataraxia. Throughout participant observation, discourse analysis, mapping a range of physical cartographies and performative juxtapositions, is attempted the virtual rationalization of a unique sacrosanct space on earth.
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