Planetary Systems
In collaboration with Eyes of Light
Online workshop, Japan + Greece
dimensions variable
2022

Planetary Systems was a remote art workshop addressed to women with recent cancer experience and it was designed and facilitated by myself in collaboration with Eyes of Light, a non-profit organization founded in 2019 in Athens with the mission of improving the quality of life of cancer patients through art. 

In February 2022 the online workshop was held with the participation of 11 women from different parts of Greece. During the design phase of this project, the intention was to combine the remoteness due to the pandemic restriction, with a more tangible aspect. Therefore, it was decided, also in accordance with the artist’s practice, to produce a kit of art objects to be delivered to the participants, and function as a source material of the workshop.

The paper objects were designed by the artist in a vector based programme, and were then laser-cut. Their purpose was for the participants to interact with, to manipulate and transform them in an abstract, subjective and playful manner. The design was inspired by the various motifs and phenomena of the surface of the Earth, Sun and the Moon, as the theme of the workshop revolved around these issues. These notions were used symbolically, and were therefore connected abstractly to personal perceptions and attitudes.

The workshop consisted of three weekly online group meetings and a free time in between for each participant to experiment with the material and make her own creations. After the completion, the participants kept their creations, and were encouraged to continue working with the material, as it was designed to be easily modified, flexible and open-ended. At the end, a video documentation was created by the artist combining the material sent by the participants, where the different narrations and creations intertwined.

“Planetary Systems” was realized as a pilot study under the organization’s overarching research project, titled “Arts in Health: Contemporary art with a socially engaged and participatory focus addressing patients”, supported by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. With the contribution of a social scientist, loanna Artemi, it was evaluated through assessing participants’ satisfaction and the effect of participating in an art group in their daily life, via interviews, focus groups and observation.