IFPA 2022

IFPA4 “(RE)APPROACH NOW!” took place from September 16–18. Based on this theme, invited artists and academics framed their presentations accordingly. An excerpt from the open call written by the artistic director of the event, Mr. Ioannis Mitrou, is as follows:

“The post-digital condition, as we transition into a post-COVID reality, shapes a new logic surrounding both art in the digital/post-digital environment and the broader social reality. As Claire Bishop points out in her work *Digital Divide*, digital art tends to drift away from socially engaged artistic practices. In other words, a divide emerges between the social and the individual, within a technologically driven environment—the digital. The term ‘post-internet’, coined by artist Marisa Olson, describes the passage beyond the early, more ‘innocent’ integration of artists into the internet condition. Today, we see a deeper immersion into the digital realm and an attempt to construct a history of the internet, often through the revival of past aesthetics that permeate post-internet art in an effort to be perceived as ‘authentic’. This signals a form of post-truth, as highlighted in Fl. Cramer’s text *What’s Post-Digital?* How, then, can we redefine an art form oriented toward the social and the public sphere, beyond the logic of post-internet aesthetics? Perhaps through reconnecting art with public space—the lived space—where information ceases to be fetishized. A re-approach to live space, even through digital creations, within a performative installation framework? Performance art, especially during the quarantine periods, evolved within digital space—sometimes interactive, sometimes representing real space, and at other times embedded in imagined worlds that did not aim to represent the visible world but rather emerged from the artist’s imagination. In any case, the politics of the body and space were transformed by the pandemic. Now, in this transitional phase, with the dominance of post-internet culture in a post-digital world, approaching live space, the live body, and art through the performer’s lived experience seems like a contemporary act. The question of re-approach can be explored using all digital media and can also serve as a form of self-critique of post-internet aesthetics through the work of post-digital artists oriented toward the social and public space.”

So, this year’s theme touches on all of the above, while also raising questions about the ‘after’, precisely when the vision of the metaverse promises a post-human condition. Let us therefore reflect on the human in relation to the natural, and re-approach the public space to create new visibilities.”

Participants in IFPA 2022 included: Filippos Tsitsopoulos, Meryl Murman (USA), Julia Strauss (Germany), Ektoras Mavridis, and Giannis Mitrou. The two-day forum featured contributions from Giorgos Drivas, Dimitris Trikas, Pinelopi Chatzidimitriou, Kostis Stafylakis, Theo Triantafyllidis, Sotiris Bahtsetzis, Vasilis Alexandrou, Giannis Mitrou, and Vicky Konstantinidou. The third, equally important, part of IFPA—the educational program for students—was also highly successful. 15 students from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki were hosted during the three-day event and participated in the program. Workshops were held by: Julia Strauss (Germany), Maro Theodosiou, Maria Charela, and Filippos Tsitsopoulos. The #IFPA4 program also included contributions from Akis Kersanidis and Chrysa Tzelepi. The Viewing Room showcased 35 performance and video art works from 17 countries, including Colombia, Bolivia, Germany, Singapore, France, as well as the USA, Argentina, South Africa, Romania, and many others.