[I]sland [D]rift
Nikos Doulos

This year’s Walking Club looks into islands as physical entities and as symbolic manifestations of our fluid relations with each other and the world. How are we to understand islands as seemingly autonomous ‘bodies’ enclaved by bodies of water? Tapping into Greek mythology, travel literature, architecture, maritime poetics (through current artistic projects and critical thoughts), [I]sland [D]rift investigates islands’ bond with the sea and the mainland and with forces that shape their identity, function and symbolic prospects. Anchoring in those concepts and processes, we tap into politics of modern travel juxtaposed against waves of migration, both interlaced with notions of hospitality, fortification, isolation and escapism. Setting sail on foot, our sessions examine our fluid proximity to water and the archipelago through literal and metaphorical encounters with canals, creeks and waves, lighthouses, ports, tourists, sirens, mermaids, asylum seekers and ghosts from the sea. Drawing further inspiration from nautical flags as a code of communication between ships, we prospectively develop our own visual language of signalling.

Check out [I]sland [D]rift’s HOTGLUE page

17:00 - 19:00, November 3, 24; 17:00 - 21:00, January 12, February 9, 16; 17:00 - 19:00, March 9.

In principle, participation in a group concerns the entire series.

Sign up by sending an email to: studiumgenerale@rietveldacademie.nl

NIKOS DOULOS is an Amsterdam-based artist, born and raised in Athens. His interests lie in the investigation of new pedagogical modes for inclusive knowledge production framed under site-specific research trajectories and temporal interventions. In his work he creates malleable situations/conditions as participatory infrastructures and ‘soft’ knowledge generators. Walking holds a predominant part in his practice. He is the founder of NIGHTWALKERS – a collectively practised nocturnal walking project investigating the contemporary identity of the flanêur. NIGHTWALKERS has been performed in the Netherlands, Serbia, Sweden, Italy, Hungary, South Korea and Greece to name a few. Doulos predominately engages in research trajectories under the umbrella of Expodium – an urban do tank investigating the role of the arts in urban transition areas. He has presented projects at the Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Budapest and Bildmuseet, Umeå, and participated in IMPAKT, Utrecht, 4th Athens Biennale: AGORA and the 53rd October Salon, Belgrade. He has also led workshops for UNIDEE – Cittadellarte Pistoletto Foundation and the University of the Arts Helsinki among others. In 2017 he participated at Capacete Athens – a nine-month residency in Athens under the broader framework of documenta 14. He is a co-curator of ‘Unmaking The Netherlands’, a programme initiated by Expodium and is guest co-editor (together with Herbert Ploegman) of Kunstlicht, vol. 39: ‘Unpacking Residencies: Situating the Production of Cultural Relations’. He works collaboratively.