AC [Institute] Presents Nico Vassilakis: 5IVE SEQUENCES, April 16 - May 9, 2009

AC [ Direct ] I / II and AC [ Chapel ]
April 16 - May 9, 2009 / Opening: Thursday, April 16, 6-8pm
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Nico Vassilakis: 5IVE SEQUENCES
5IVE SEQUENCES, a visual poem by Nico Vassilakis is being exhibited in AC [Chapel] as an installation for the first time since its publication. Enlarged in scale from its original chapbook size and offering a rare opportunity to collectively interact with the piece in a public forum, 5IVE SEQUENCES explores the inherent structure and transience of language as a medium.

In creating 5IVE SEQUENCES, Vassilakis focused on the individual shapes and constructions of letters within words, referring to it as a kind of “hyper-staring” that allowed him to transform them into images and sculptural forms, free of the bonds of syntax or semantics.

For Vassilakis, visual poetry is a tangential literature through which the alphabet is deconstructed into dislocations of meaning and/or the revisioning of letters—changing the viewers perception and experience of them. Within his work, letters or fragments of letters and the environment in which they are placed, become the medium for his compositions. 5IVE SEQUENCES explores a periodic table of language through individual letterforms, exposing and disjointing their order to lose their cohesion, opening up new interpretations and meanings.

Nico Vassilakis is a multimedia artist, poet and writer. He is currently the curator for the Subtext Reading Series in Seattle. His visual poetry videos have been shown worldwide at festivals and exhibitions of innovative language arts. Vassilakis’ writings have appeared in numerous magazines, including: Ribot, Caliban, Aufgabe, Chain, Talisman, Central Park and Golden Handcuffs Review. His latest publications are TEXT LOSES TIME and most recently a Vispo essay “staReduction,” from BookThug Publishers (Toronto, Canada).

For additional information about the artists please contact AC [Institute Direct Chapel] at [email protected].

About AC [Institute Direct Chapel]
AC’s mission is to advance the understanding of art through investigation, research and education. It is a lab and forum for experimentation and critical discussion. We support and develop projects that explore a performative exchange across visual, verbal and experiential disciplines. We encourage critical writing that challenges conventional expectations of meaning and objectivity as well as the boundaries between the rational and subjective. Art Currents is a non-profit 501©3. AC [Institute Direct Chapel 547 W. 27th St, 5th Floor, #519-529, New York, NY 10001 www.artcurrents.org email: [email protected] Gallery Hours: Wed, Fri. & Sat: 1-6pm, Thurs.: 1-8pm