3

Vasiliki Kappa

Take a trip

to the

Invisible Cities

KOUINTA

4

Copyright © 2014, Kouinta Publishing House

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used

or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without

the written permission of the publisher.

KOUINTA PUBLISHING HOUSE 74 Kanari Street Gerakas Athens Greece www.kouinta.com ISBN 978-618-80515-4-6

5

Dreamy lands, of unexpected beauty

6

7

Everywhere under the ground hidden remnants of ancient buildings… Ancient cities were more than buildings, they were living organisms. You can sense the experienced time, it’s inside you… you are inside it. Hard mountainous brown Black of the Stone Sea blue Yellow All colors meet Yet they don t mix On the contrary, each can be found pure, in strict isolation. Placed on this landscape villages and cities seem fragile. I always felt that if I closed my eyes they would disappear, as if they’ve never been there, that houses should try hard to stay together, otherwise this chromatic wildness would swallow them. Invisible cities belong to the world, every part of the world that keeps alive the memory of its past. My villages have two

8

faces: one obvious, one hidden. I paint them as I remember them, I purify them from any realistic detail, trying to create a short chromatic summary of each place and reproduce the feeling you get when you see it for the first time. All paintings are based on real places that I’ve visited, but the viewer is free to find his own cities behind mine, the ones that remain invisible to me.

9

Invisible Cities, Paris, Vasiliki Kappa

10

This book is the result of an amazing meeting between two projects that gave me the opportunity to express the same idea in different forms. The first project is a series of paintings I’ve been working on for the last fifteen years, named “Invisible Cities”, since I was initially inspired by Italo Calvino. The second project is a film called “Take a Trip” directed by Christos N. Karakasis, and produced during the last two years. All filming took place in England and London is the city presented. I was asked to write a text that would be used in the film. As a writer I do not find it easy to write on a given subject, but this was not the case. It was about a city, and cities were always part of my thoughts as they used to be my main subject in another field of my interests; art. How could I put my perception of a city in words, though? It seemed easy at first, but was it really? I had to think and watch the film so many times, but still couldn’t find my way with words. Then suddenly I was running out of time, I had to let the director know if I was going to give him the text or free him from waiting. I decided to free him. I was sorry, but it seemed that cities were only meant to be painted by me. Maybe I couldn’t combine different ways of expressing myself on the very same idea. Maybe we all have different areas in ourselves that do exist as whole entities, but can never meet, because they are just parallel to each other. So I freed him, but, as soon as I did, I started writing. I knew London, I knew England, I had lived there for long periods and suddenly it was all coming together.

11

try to perceive the meaning. Inside me there is an imaginary room. I reside in it and secretly observe the world, like a writer.

I'm on the street while I'm not. I feel that people are the same everywhere. I’ve come here to escape, yet suddenly people seem the same. I responded to an invitation… by whom? By no one, really… It’s an invented invitation; to travel away from myself or maybe within myself... During the journey I close my eyes to the world. I only sense this existential situation… this connection... I must admit I cannot find the right words. I’ m travelling. I’ m leaving a city behind me for another city. I hope a different one. Why? I do not know. I suppose, someone else must be travelling to reach the city that I’m leaving. Maybe the journey takes place only inside us. Maybe the city itself is only inside us. What indeed is a city, rather than the way we see it?

∞

I

12

am a prisoned writer, with so many thoughts. People are the same everywhere. This is so true.

I have to find out if others realize it. People might be a little shorter or taller, darker or blonder, with slanted eyes or orange hair. Always struggling however, facing obstacles, trying to change, to change themselves, to change the landscape or their lives.

∞ I can still smell the breath of the past and the tiny fairy elves hiding in the grass, the haunted castles, and the wild sea underneath the bare facades of Whitby ’s ruins.

∞ Oh well, these statues are waiting for me even here. As if there is another city inside the city. A weird matching; those summer clothes sculpted on marble along with the outside rain, even though there is no rain today.

∞ Human traces here are so old.

I

21

38

Vasiliki Kappa was born and raised in Toronto. She lives and

works in Athens. As a visual artist she brings together a wide

range of tools, ranging from painting to filmmaking,

animation and video art. She is also a recognized writer,

registered by literary criticism to one of the most disruptive

voices in contemporary literature. Her first book "The hyena’s

diet", Kastaniotis editions, was officially nominated for State

Prize novel, something that rarely happens for an emerging

writer. Her work as an artist gave her the opportunity for

direct contact with the audience and constant

experimentation with the idea of artistic identity and its

applications in communication.

In 2010, in cooperation with KOYINTA cultural organization,

she supported an inspired artistic movement in order to start

a dialogue both with well known and emerging artists in

strictly artistic semantic context. Part of the movement was a

TV cultural show titled Blow-Up, directed by Christos

39

Karakasis, which was presented along with a TV show titled

Art Uber Alles. She was the presenter in Blow Up TV show for

the total of fourteen episodes that were screened both in

Greece and Cyprus. She presented artists, directors, actors

and writers such as: Dimitris Athanitis, Lucia Rikaki Vassilis

Mazomenos, Andreas Mitsou, George Moraris, Anthonis

Livieratos, Mania Papadimitriou, Roberta Nitsos, Ilias Misyris,

Ilias Iosifidis, Manthos Santorineos etc.

She is one of the founders of the International Digital Film

Festival of Athens, while in 2013, she was the Festival

Producer for the 3rd Festival (www.aidff.com). She is also in

the Organizing Committee of the International Panorama of

Scientific and Ecological Films.

She studied painting and holds a master’s degree in Digital

Arts (Athens School of Fine Arts). She also has a degree in

Film direction, in Ancient Greek literature and linguistics, in

Acting and in Opera Singing and a diploma in alternative

psychology.

She has held 24 solo exhibitions and participated in many

group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. Her paintings are

grouped in thematic series. "Invisible Cities" her most

recognized panting.

40

Paintings

Page 21, Fairy tale city, all houses had ladders

that led to the sky, every night people climbed

up they caught a cloud and enjoyed the view

Page 22, Greek City of Smyrna, my origin city, I

can still recall all the destroyed buildings

Page 23, Fishing village, I wish I could stay there

for a few days, I would go fishing every day,

wearing a big yellow hat

Page 24, Hive of honey, I discovered that bees

build their own cities, that people are bees

Page 25, Nafpaktos, this is the typical Greek

island, with a castle at the edge

Page 26, Pilion, mysterious mountains, magical

veil of the night

Page 27, Santorini, that was one of the most

unexpected places

Page 28, Syros, And God leaned over Syros

Page 29, Teenage city, this is the place we

remember tenderly, but it once was the city we

tried hard to escape from

Page 30, Thessaloniki’s memory, nobody ever

sleeps there

41

The text in this book was especially written

for the movie “TAKE A TRIP”, directed by

Christos Karakasis and reflects my time

lasting effort to explore the meaning of

cities.

42

45

TAKE A TRIP Organization of production

Vasiliki Kappa Direction of photography

George Devon, Christos N. Karakasis Dionisios Dimas

Music Composition Gregory Giarelis

Assistant Director Nikos Psaltakis

Assistant producer Maria Kappa

Text Narration Vasiliki Kappa

Written and directed by Christos N. Karakasis

46

47

ΚΟΥΙΝΤΑ Production www.kouinta-

production.gr

KOYINTA Publishing House www.kouinta.com

KOYINTA Art eMagazine www.koyinta.gr

FILMMAKER www.filmmaker.gr

Athens International Digital Film Festival

www.AIDFF.com

Tickets Tickets Culture Company

www.vasilikikappa.com

vasilikikappa@hotmail.com

48

49

50