Stefanos Tsicopoulos

b. 1973, Greece

Truth begins with an axiom of truth. It begins with a decision. Decision to say that an event has taken place.

— Alain Badiou, ‘The Political as a Truth Procedure’ Alain Badiou, Abrégé de Métapolitique (Seuil, Paris, 1998)

At the centre of my artistic practice is the research, collection and analysis of archive photos, newsreels, film archives and other historically related imagery that constitute part of our collective memory. These documents are taken out of their historical context and used in my work in a reverse mode: instead of serving their purpose, they are deployed to tell a new story. By questioning the axiomatic value of a document, I am, at the same time, stating that we are strongly attracted to the document as it is; trying to expose the aura of the photographic document while revealing my own suspicion in its power to prove validity; showing the paradox of the document and its inherent contradictions without using the witness, but rather the document itself as subject. At the core of my work exists the assumption that it is the way a story is been told rather than the story itself. The origin of the story as a true or untrue event comes second to the image’s ability to create genuine emotions and overlook facts. So archives are not necessarily serving as ‘representatives’ of the historical truth; rather, they are just another way to tell a story.

(Text: reading the city catalogue, 2009)