Residency of Alexandros Zilos & Ioanna Lykou, presented by Little Islands Festival in partnership with Foça Film Days & Travel Fest Albania
Artists' note Our artistic research and collaborative practice approach the fields of ethnography and anthropology through audiovisual arts, seeking to unravel stories, myths, symbols, images,and representations in ways that reflect and redefine the dynamics of cultural meanings. For us, the "Discovery" Artist in Residence programme is more than just an art programme. It is a conceptual space that allows us to take time, redefine our practice and think outside the standard expectations of artistic production.
Through the research project Homonarrans, Little Islands Festival produced a multidisciplinary residency programme exploring storytelling, memory, communication and the social function of narrative. With the Aegean Sea as a point of departure and contemporary audiovisual media as a tool, the duo Ioanna Lykou and Alexandros Zilos explored multiple forms of cinematic expression. They have experimented with different methods of recording and narration to create a series of works on the border between documentary and multimedia narration focusing on the countless versions of stories and images that are pervasive in everyday vision and thought.
The first stage of Homonarrans was set in Greece. From March to August, the artists developed a series of field expeditions, research activities and open talks with local citizens, students and artists aiming to highlight human stories that can inspire, evoke emotions and encourage self-reflection.
After, Ioanna Lykou and Alexandros Zilos completed a 9-day artistic residency in Phokaia (Foca) as part of Foça Film Days, where they led a "site-specific visual storytelling” workshop and presented the video "Social Rituals” to the public. They have also conducted interviews with the local community to broaden the exploration of the concept of Homonarrans.
The new phases of the project are about to begin - in November, Homonarrans will be in Albania to meet Travel Fest Albania and, in December, continue its production process based on 3 weeks of creative research residencies.