Maria Leonidou playfully challenges the boundaries between digital and physical identities, and how those identities are shaped and defined by new technologies. The works whisper posthumanist queries; about the nature of the self, the human vs the non-human and the machine, and allow us to dive into an uncanny world; distinctions merge and give birth to a new view of what it means ‘to be’, or ‘not to be’, in these ambiguous states that exist among the material and the virtual.

The very form of the works is hybrid: fabrics reminiscent of flags hanging from metal structures, but instead of signifying a nation, they signify the transformation of Leonidou’s digital works into a tactile, transparent material that has a body. On the screen, the 3D design recalls once again a digital body, which is almost liquid, ever-moving, suggesting the potential for transformation. A spine and its fluids- a spine symbolic of the core of the human existence where all nerves pass by and give instructions for movement and transmit feelings- how would our digital spines look like in a post-material world? Structures fill the space, provoking humans to question their intended nature, because maybe there isn’t one.

The project was developed as part of the Artist-in-Residence Program at CYENS Thinker Maker Space.

CREDITS:
Text by Ioulita Toumazi

Maria Leonidou graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Thessaloniki. Part of her studies, was completed at the School of Fine Arts in Madrid. She holds a Master’s degree from the School of Fine Arts in Birmingham, UK. She has exhibited her work in various exhibitions and has participated in various projects and residencies. Her last project ‘’Deforming Hybrids’’ was contacted in collaboration with the Cyprus University of Technology, the MADLab Research Laboratory and the CUTMakerspace in November 2021. In March 2021 she collaborated with the performer Lia Haraki for the audiovisual installation ‘REEL’ at NiMac, Nicosia. Previously this year she presented her work ‘’We have found a bug in your system’’ at the Experimental Arts Center of Thessaloniki. She currently lives and works in Cyprus and her work includes 3D modeling and art installations.