Metatropolis
2023
Building of the Arvali squat, Koukaki.
Metatropolis, is a work in the form of a board game, which, seeking new terms of coexistence and action, invites the exhibition's audience to become participants, fulfilling this way its destination.
With their previous work Thin Red Line (2019) as a starting point, based on the composition of a map, describing the route of squats spaces’ of freedom sealing-off procedure and promoting a new dimension of the of bodies’ movement within the city, they now explore the shifts that occur, not only at these spaces, but also at the city itself.
Metatropolis dashboard
Dimensions: 50.40 cm x 40 cm
“
During World War II, the British secret service hatched a master plan to smuggle escape gear to captured Allied
soldiers inside Germany. Their secret weapon? Monopoly boxes.
The original notion was simple enough: Find a way to sneak useful items into prison camps in an unassuming
form. But the idea to use Monopoly came from a series of happy coincidences, all of which started with maps.”
The map of the artwork Thin Red Line, showing
the locations of squats with sealed entrances in Athens.
By reworking their map, they look for these traces that testify the “passage” from a sepng of sealing, towards a sepng of reconstruction.
The board game they create “freezes” a moment of transformation, while the game’s discourse and conditions allow the effect to the final outcome.
Board game box design
Through the element of the game and the condensation of time, a sense of control and supervision of the situation is being introduced, leaving the potential of change free, as also the influence of the players on the outcome and the formation of a common field.
Installation boardgame
Dimensions:
1.60 m Width x 70 cm Height
Materials: Wood, metal, dashboard, box, pawns, dice, map, cards, banknotes