A Little Bird told me...

‘Happiness Unlimited’ Reviewed

Kalispéra!

In this blogpost I would like to reflect on an installation that we saw on one of our excursions on Tuesday. Happiness Unlimited is a piece of installation art created by the Greek artist Elli Papakonstantinou, initially showcased in Aarhus and Athens and subsequently as part of the Euphoria Revised exhibition in the Old Powerhouse Páfos. We were lucky enough to have extensive discussions with Elli, the artist herself, offering us background information and outlining her inspirations. I would like to recall these quickly: her artwork was created in collaboration with a Danish director and was motivated by the UNESCO World Happiness Report - whereby Denmark was deemed the happiest country and Greece the least happy (European) country. The artist and director then proceeded to organise a dinner and performance event in Denmark and Greece, recording the discussions and cutting them to a 1,5 minute loop which is displayed in three little birdhouses on an olive tree (see picture below).

Something that I found to be very captivating about the art piece was the fact that the chosen medium and objects innately reflected its intentions and process. The olive tree is a universal symbol of peace, as it is said that the dove from the ark brought an olive branch to Noah. It is thus indicative of the sense of belonging that the artist wanted to instill within locals, but also across the national borders of Denmark, Greece and Cyprus. Birdhouses can be seen as a metaphor for a safe space and as an enclosure from the outside world, echoing the safe spaces that were created as part of the dinner invitations. Similarly, the notion of young birds being educated and prepared for life by the elder birds in a birdhouse is mirroring the experts coming in and giving speeches to the citizens at the dinner debates. Bird chirping is also a sound that is often subdued but still omnipresent in public space; correspondingly, the recorded voices seemed to encompass the entire gallery space.

Although some of the underlying notions of this project were discussed by Elli, there were some other elements of the installation that I found very striking to interpret. One of these was the inherent idea of identity performance that this artwork represents. I would like to point out one distinctive feature contemplating the construction of a represented identity for each of the three countries.

The Cypriot Birdhouse

To my surprise, the installation used the term “Cyprus” as marking one of the birdhouses, although Elli subsequently admitted that only Greek Cypriots were present in the discussion that was disseminated through the corresponding speaker. I found this a little problematic concerning the fact that Cyprus - having learned in abundance about the divided Cypriot identity - displays a two-folded demographic that is thus only acknowledged in a one-sided manner within this installation.

The Greek Birdhouse

Another interesting feature was that the Greek voices - and more specifically the laughter - were overshadowing the ones dispersed by the Danish and Cypriot birdhouses. Over time and through the constant looping of sound, the laughter even seemed to acquire an unnerving character. Elli, being Greek herself, mentioned in her monologue that after the financial crisis in 2011, Greek people began to feel the need to "reboot" and to reinvent the question of "Who are we?". Being assigned the status of "the least happy country in Europe" is thus juxtaposed with the loud and hysterical laughter as disseminated through the recordings. It almost seems as though the Greek birdhouse narrative sought to reaffirm a certain image of self for the Greeks in vehemently counter-acting the stereotypes that have been attached to Greek identity throughout the last years.

The Danish Birdhouse

The Danish recording distinguished itself in the fact that the discussion took place in English rather than in Danish, the local language. Elli outlined that since there were Greek people present at the event, the Danish participants collectively decided to hold the event entirely in English so that it would be accessible to everyone. For the same event in Greece however, the Greek participants decided to speak in their local language and to engage translators for the few Danish participants that were present. I found this circumstance quite telling of the dilemma of how to present oneself to members of another culture. The Danish could herewith be argued to take pride in their level of English proficiency that enables them to include people of other cultures into their circles and interactions.

Ultimately though, this exhibition is successful in conveying multiple facets of what it means to be happy - and more importantly that we might not be able to measure happiness in a static manner.

- Chirped by Jenni Jostock