Chaosmos: The Ludwigsburg Fugue, 2017, video by artist Aemilia Papaphilippou

Aemilia Papaphilippou, visual artist and thinker, keynote speaker at Raumwelten Conference “Ordnung" (November 2017), presented, in the context of the event, the video “Chaosmos: The Ludwigsburg Fugue“, titled otherwise as “Chess Continuum-Chaos Order Dance at the Court”.  

It was initially projected as a video installation with performative elements at the courtyard of the baroque Palace of Ludwigsburg, which is 12 kilometers from the Baden- Württemberg state capital of Stuttgart, Germany.The interconnectedness and similarity of “chaos” and “order”, witnessed in the similarity of white noise (TV snow), to the sea sparkling in the sun, is fundamental to the piece.The following text -written by the artist and used in the performance- further illuminates the concepts involved.

Time is ticking! Check!But yet, one could say, its also flowing away. How we perceive Time depends upon culture. Some, sit still…they say.Pawn to d4, Pawn to d5.And yet we all have to face the inevitable.At the same time, Time is clicking away, and yet, we have time_ to spend … Still.Pause and think…but can we really do that anymore? … Showered, as we are, with a vast flux of in-formation? Have we been altering what we are?Can we take an “I” for an “I”? Is it a stable entity?And what of connectivity in our age of electronic reality?Knight to f3, Pawn to e4I kind of remember being in my crib.Looking at the sunrays, streaming into the room through the smallest, minutest holes in the shades. Thin, solid, shafts of light beamed upon me. Yet, when I reached to touch them (I remember lifting my little hands) that simply could not be…And the dust…no dust at all! It whirled, and whirled, never touching the ground… Weightlessness, immense beauty, happiness.Absolutely no control over anything …Knight to g5…I was in Hydra –a Greek island- in the summer.Looking at the sun, setting, I had what felt as a revelation.I could see, plainly see, in front of my eyes what, a few days ago, was simply inconceivable.The sea shimmering in the sun seemed to be a technological phenomenon.White noise in full bloom!

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When Prometheus was chained at his rock, he called upon the Earth, the Wind the Sea, -and this particular phenomenon- to relieve him of his pain.Ποντίων τε κυμάτων ανήριθμον γέλασμα…Calling at the sea, its waves and their infinite laughter.Yes! Laughter…bursting out like flashes of luminescence, ephemeral…and sunny.Because deity (as in Dias and Zeus), means light…

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“Chaos” is around us from time immemorial.We’ve tried to make sense of it, by piecing together luminous dots in the night sky, or, still today, piecing together things at the level of Quarks and beyond.Making sense of the world, interpreting and recoding, we fashion ourselves, we keep being…

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The Gordian knot requires our presence, where chaos and order constantly dance at the court. You can see the video here.