Page 485 - COVER ZOU.ps

483

in their life and work. The most important international magazines on design
and interior decoration heralded the creations of STUDIO METAPLASI as original
and unique examples of design in Greece and abroad.
Yet more than designer, Nikos Zouboulis wants to be seen as an artist,
and remembers his early performances of the 1970s, when music and the body
assumed dynamic forms on latex, a newly-invented fabric which became his personal
medium in art and the material of his paintings and sculptures.
In our last meeting, he spent some time talking to me about "Applause," the long
black sculpture of metal and wood with its many colors. He told me how
in the performance "Myth and Reality," at Expo Arte 1978 in Bari, the main 'material'
was the energy of the audience as the sculpture moved its wooden hands using
a mechanism operated by himself, to applaud the involuntary participation
of the people who were stunned by this. It was an original happening, much praised
by Italian and foreign critics.
The installation-performances were followed by painting-sculptures and then by
object-furniture-sculptures. These unique art objects are now in museums and major
international collections.
Nikos Zouboulis wishes to stress his infinite gratitude to two great figures in Greece
who, at a very early stage, supported and sensitively encouraged his creative
pursuits: the art dealer Alexander Iolas, who put him on an artistic course;
and contemporary art collector Dakis Joannou, who was the first to acquire
his sculpture-objects for his important collection.
Between 1993 and 1997 Nikos Zouboulis and Titsa Grekou created a space that was
rare in Europe and unprecedented in Greece; a space which brings together
in a creative whole the experiences from different times and places, always lived
first-hand: their Home-Studio-Showroom-Office-Factory.
It is a different way of perceiving life and creativity. Work and existence.
Image and the Present Time.
"MAKING ART AND YOUR LIFE ONE THING" (Josef Beuys)
In the beautiful countryside of Acharnae, on the outskirts of Athens, a sweet,
simple white edifice stands proud and silent amidst an ancient olive grove.
The turquoise blue underlines the uniform architecture and describes the approach
to the entire habitable space inside.
Nothing was left to chance.
True to their beliefs, Nikos Zouboulis and Titsa Grekou have set up the "Intelligent
Edifice" of their personal creative life. They design and implement the architectural
structure in their own personal way in which human philosophy is closely linked
to the needs of a consummate existence.
The layout of the interior follows the pattern of their life, while their relationship
with the furniture, the objects, the sculptures and technology and their everyday
needs acquires a phenomenologically special importance and invests the whole
setting with a harmonious sense of life.
To Nikos every element, space or object is a symbol of active design,
just as his private life is beside Titsa. The human factor provides the identity,
specifies the philosophy and, combined with personal creative history, proclaims
the need for a new reality to meet the requirements of the Present Time.

Lucrezia De Domizio Durini
Milan 1999