Project Myucyx:
Apoliti Alithia

Commonly depicted as reminiscent of an octopus or a starfish, with tentacles and a shell, Apoliti Alithia is a creature that imbeds itself in a person’s head and gains control of their vision. A rooted eye protruding from the creature’s back makes its subject see solely the fixed, stable, distorted, and one-dimensional view of reality it captures. The person is never aware of the creature’s presence and enjoys the pleasurable sense of comfort Apoliti Alithia provides. According to the stories, due to its thick hide and hard shell but its tight grip as well, it is hard to remove an Apoliti Alithia from a person’s head and the host will contest any attempt for separation. Nevertheless, it is possible, although a distressing procedure for the host. The being’s origins are still not identified but speculations suggest links with a variety of entities and deities.

pm.AA.s.cer._.01 | clay, paint | 2019 | approx 27x14x10cm

pm.AA.s.gi.kefali.01 | Plaster | 2022 | approx. 90x83x78cm

now and then...as long as humanity is.

pm.AA.r.vid.person.01 | Animation rendered in Blender 3D | 2022 | minted into an NFT in 2022

instalation view, Villa de Bank, Encshede NL, 2022

AA.rel.cer.person.01 | Ceramic | 2021 | approx. 28x8x1cm

Human is the creature that can experience existential chaos.

Excerpts from messy discussions with dear friends, translated from Greek.

Dear Friend: ‘’...where can I stand if God is not my rock , my strength? ...makes us behave more like animals instead of spiritual, intellectual beings that we are…’’
NK: ‘’Nowhere; learn to deal with it ...existence is chaotic, uncertain... But to not face reality as your mind perceives it, something that is part of the definition of what a human is - because one of the major dividing lines between the other living beings and humans is the existential questions, the ability to ask them and the chaos of uncertainty that comes as a response. So if instead of facing them you hide behind the ‘’existential security’’ that a religion, ideology or any other substitute provides, you literally deny to accept and to handle a part of your nature which is a main part of the definition of what a human being is, in other words you avoid the experience of the human condition and by resorting to a religion (whether it has to do with gods or politics or whatever makes you feel existentially safe, secure and assured), you practically say I don’t want to be a human I cant handle part of human existence therefore you move away from your spirituality / intellectuality and your humanity. Those are my messy thoughts on this subject, peace! ‘’
‘’... I mean that to resort to a religion etc is a sign that the subject cannot handle one of the things that differentiates it from animals and defines humans as beings, therefore to learn to handle your existential thoughts / feelings is a sign of a person that embraces that part of your human nature and your distinction from other creatures, whereas the resorting in things that give existential stableness, certainty and safety (eg religion) is a sign of a person that does not desire to be fully human but a simplified condition and that’s something that contradicts the differentiation of humans as beings. That’s because you talked about god, animals and humans above. Peace and Loove’’

Andreas Papagiannidis: I think that this is the ultimate point of the discussions we are having here. Because I, and perhaps others in this group, cannot rely on God precisely because His word does not change. This certainty that is promised by approaches to truth which strive to have already found a version of it so representative that it need not change anymore make me feel frozen and insecure. When everything around me keeps changing, when I feel change taking place in myself, to think in a way that reflects this seems … natural to me. Only when I act upon the world, when I direct my energy towards keeping things stable do I seem to find something which resembles stability. Like tidying up a room in a predetermined state. But even then, it seems to me that I am simply rearranging things in an approximation of that predetermined state, of that initial stability. So then I am faced with something that tells me that certainty has been found: you need do nothing more, things are like this - full stop. But I do not stop. I keep going. Since I keep going then, I can only find my support in doubt and reconsideration. Maybe because these things are moving, like I am moving. Something which doesn’t change will keep being where it is. But soon I will be elsewhere - whereas that will keep being where it is. So, I am thinking now, it follows that in a discussion or in an exchange of ideas, I will always doubt the immovable character of the word of God, or any other approach that is based on such certainty - on not-changing. I can do so openly, or not. But I will always doubt it. So similarly (and very likely) will someone resist the constant change and doubt and reconsideration of any approach that is based on them. And then, the discussion breaks into many bits and pieces. And it doesn’t matter what we were talking about.

pm.AA.s.br.kneel.01 | Bronze, two parts | 2022 | approx. 8x5x4cm

pm.AA.rel.cer. gorgon.01 | Clay | 2021 | approx. 40x40x2cm

The Apoliti Alithia project can be viewed as an examination of certainty.

The Apoliti Alithia mythos talks about the undisputed perceptions that one might have in their mind in an allegorical tale which portrays those absolutes with a negative undertone. So the viewer is invited through the work to ask if the beliefs and convictions they are most certain of, are in fact some sort of creature that has grabbed them.

Thus the work encourages the viewer to abandon states of total certainty. That makes one more open to conversation and perhaps closer to the truth, because doubt may be a better friend to truth than certainty is.

Doubt can be a motivating power to acquire knowledge and to ask questions ... a kinetic situation when certainty is stable, possibly even stale.

Stability is something that humans adore not only in their everyday life but also on an existential level.

...to urge the viewer to look inside themselves, try to find and doubt the islands of certainty inside their mind in order to nudge one to learn, be more open to discussion, more ideologically flexible, more philosophical.

In the information era, the concept of Apoliti Alithia becomes all the more relevant. Engaging with more information means engaging with more contradicting views. Learning new things means being reminded of your own ignorance. Consequently diving into absolutes becomes more appealing.

...the uncertainty we are obliged to accept about our existence but we desperately don’t want to do so. Thus we tend to seek a stable narrative about it.

pm.AA.dr._.01 | Graphite on paper | 2022 | approx. 38x27cm

pm.AA.r.vid.aaa.01 | Animation rendered in Blender 3D , android phone | 2022 | minted into an NFT in 2022

‘‘The people that believed in the absolute truth have also believed that they have the absolute truth in their pocket. ‘’

- Karl Popper

‘’Certainty forms the basis for totalitarian thought’’

- excerpt from an article on The Guardian about Popper's work

instalation view, Villa de Bank, Encshede NL, 2022

pm.AA.rm.af.Lurking.01 | ''fate tous'' | Poster taken from the streets of Athens (GR) and displayed exactly as it was found. | 2022 | approx. 83.5x59cm.

pm.AA.etch.knife.01 | ''fate tous'' | Etching on knife, traces of human blood | 2022 | approx. 25x4x1cm

Ceremonial oil lamp with Apoliti Alithia depiction | Ceramic | 2022 | approx. 12x8x4cm

pm.AA.r.pic.pr.strike.01 | Picture rendered in Blender 3D | 2022

pm.AA.s.wo.clubgia.02

Engraving on a piece from old furniture from my grandmother’s house (the house my mother grew up in). 2022

pm.AA.s.wo.clubgia.02

Engraving on a piece from old furniture from my grandmother’s house (the house my mother grew up in). 2022

pm.AA.s.wo.clubgia.02

Engraving on a piece from old furniture from my grandmother’s house (the house my mother grew up in). 2022

pm.AA.s.wo.clubgia.02

Engraving on a piece from old furniture from my grandmother’s house (the house my mother grew up in). 2022

1/3

pm.AA.s.wo.clubgia.02 | Engraving on a piece from old furniture from my grandmother’s house (the house my mother grew up in). | 2022

pm.AA.s.wo.clubgia.01 | sculpture on a piece of old furniture from my grandmother’s house (the house my mother grew up in), other personal items my grandmother had. | 2022

pm.AA.r.vid.strike-wyw. 0.8 | ''who you with?'' | Animation rendered in Blender 3D | 2022

Progress – Victory

Two words that sum things up. I might as well stop right here – but where would be the fun in that?

Life experience has shown me the obviousness of progress. It’s quite simple really. Now is now, and then is then, and what will be will be. That much even a baby understands. What was then cannot be now, nor can what will be, be then. Even reading that shit is paradoxical: what does “what will be, be then” even mean?
If you are human, you know this as simple, irrefutable truth. But you also know that this description is not enough. It is not enough to say that this happens. Because even if things move, even as they move, they are also judged. Judging is nice. It feels nice. It feels correct. But clearly, to judge is to compare. You cannot judge something in a vacuum. Otherwise it would just … be. So, things can either get better or they can get worse. Than. Always than. Better than. Worse than. You can fill the rest in yourself. I don’t really care to do that for you. My thans are enough for me.
Two simple facts – move and judge. An equally simple combination – move to better than. This really shouldn’t be confusing. Moving is not an option. Judging is not an option. The only option is knowing the combination for which to strive. Who in their right mind would even strive for worse than? Maybe some choose to deny movement. I do not like thinking about that. I will not.
But “move to better than” sounds awkward I admit. “Progress” is not awkward. Its one word instead of many. It does not explain what it means. It means what it means. Obviously.

Maybe you want me to be more specific. Maybe I want me to be more specific.
Consider a game. Any game. Introduce the elements of the game + a time in which it takes place.
Now consider. The game is what it is. Before it begins, all we have are rules and players. As it unfolds, players move through time constrained by rules to arrive to a point in the future. The point in the future we know exists, for the game ends. In that point comes judgement. The players’ use of the rules is judged – and compared in between them. Inevitably, someone will be better than and others will be worse than. All that matters is arriving in that single point in the future, with a better than.
To “arrive to a better than” is Victory. Single word. Like Progress. More nuanced. Same difference. Better than.

Do you see now? How clear it all is. Now that I rethink this, I didn’t even need two different notions. It’s all rather simply one thing. Better than.

- Andreas Papagiannidis

Apoliti Alithia (Απόλυτη Αλήθεια) means Absolute Truth in Greek.