Some Notes On Urns, or What I Can Tell You About Butterflies (2023) unfired stoneware clay, bobbin machine, paint, thread, paper, steel pins. Installation view, the butterfly effect, curated by Kostas Prapoglou in the EL. D. Mouzakis textile factory, Athens, Greece.

tap to enlarge

Further notes:

As it dries, unfired clay will crack and crumble. This is expected. It is in a condition of inevitable transformation back to dust.

A bobbin machine transfers thread from one spool to another. Why? I don’t know.

The thread was manufactured in the Mouzakis textile factory in Athens, Greece, the site of The Butterfly Effect exhibition. “Butterfly” is the tradename of the thread produced there.

John Keats wrote the poem “Ode on A Grecian Urn” in 1819 after viewing several famous urns and drawings of urns located in England. It is a well-known poem among English speakers who are interested in poetry. It is, in my opinion, an intensely Romantic poem that reflects the worldview of a thoughtful 19th century Englishman. The general theme is that humans are mortal, but art is eternal.

This piece was made entirely on site between September 7 and 17 – while the factory was in operation.