In an attempt to address the problem of plastic debris in the oceans, I collected anthropogenic debris from the shore of Miami Beach — Miami is a city predicted to be under water in less than 100 years due to climate change. I hand-sculpted in clay all those elements that I collected; I fired and glazed them. I placed them on the wall in the formation of the celestial constellation Orion, aiming for the dialogue of three different environments.

Orion was a great giant hunter, in Greek mythology. His boast that he could rid the Earth of all the wild animals, however, angered the Earth goddess, Gaia, who expelled him and Zeus placed him among the stars as the constellation of Orion. Orion is visible from (almost) everywhere in the world and a reminder of arrogance. Recreating this constellation with marine debris but in ceramic (a natural material that has carried cultural stories from thousands of years) is an attempt to tell the story anew pointing to contemporary issues of hybris towards Earth.

A found object, a book with the word “Horizon” on it, is either slowly being enveloped or emerging from the mountain of construction gravel. From our earliest ancestors up to the present, we are all linked by the daily view of a horizon. How would the natural horizons of the past compare to our present state?

In the modesty of the Super 8 film and the simplicity of the gestures, chance and certainty are found in interchangeable positions, permanently incomplete and perpetually chasing each other. These two seemingly repetitive actions and the intervals between them, as myriad moments of invisible registrations, become a tableau for possibility. 

Solo Show

Irini Miga

Atlanta Contemporary

April 12 – June 3, 2018

Reflections is a site-responsive installation that utilizes sculpture, light, film, sound, as well as performed and embodied text.

As a term, reflection refers to both imagery and perceptions. Here, these themes also evoke the allegory of Plato’s cave, where people turn their backs on reality to see the world as its shadows, as illusions. Instead, this installation stages a cavernous space as a site for sensitizing viewers to the reality of their built environment and broad environmental dilemmas. Coal revolutionized our contemporary reality and human history. Nonetheless, more than any other energy source process activity, the mining, washing, transporting, burning, and disposing of coal, damages the environment. This fossil fuel tears up land, removes mountains, contaminates rivers and causes acid rain. It is one of the main sources of lung disease globally and the largest human contribution to the atmospheric greenhouse effect. The impact of coal far exceeds that of our individual electricity bills. Indeed, coal’s expenses are not only monetary because its uses take a toll on all of us—most especially those dependent on the coal industry and the least privileged and most vulnerable among us.

Unpacking the history of this exhibition site, Irini Miga invites us to contemplate the passage of time as we view the Chute Space. Her work adjusts our eyes to the idiosyncrasies of these surroundings as a former storage room for coal.

On the short Super8 film, Longevity Was Not a Priority in The Autonomous Region of Light, we encounter a still life with a burning candle in front of a poster depicting wild horses. Such props are evocative of Americana and the exhibition space’s past use as not only a coal chute, but also a place for fixing horse carriages. Connecting the depletion of our natural resources and the periled status of the coal mining industry, this work conjures vanitas, a genre of still life that centers on perishable goods and symbolizes human greed as well as the fleeting character of human life. Playing on notions of ephemerality, the grainy quality of the video casts a moment in the present as one that belongs to the past.

A suspended wall with ceramic inserts, Marks and Dents Were Always Part of This Picture, outlines select contours of the guts of a brick surface. Nodding to the visual language of coal’s various manifestations, the inserts contain anthracite dust. A hole in the backside of the wall makes visible a faint flickering light reminiscent of burning raw material.

Hanging from the pipe, a suspended lamp sheds light onto a bowl with hand-sculpted ceramic gloves and rocks. This beaming assemblage, Contracted by Light, recalls the arduous task of collecting coal in dark mines while gesturing to the accidents there that have cost countless human lives.

A mop stands alone as a domestic element. As a sculpture, You Talk the Language of The Soil, speaks to the labor of cleaning the space and the ever present danger of wiping away the past.

In a broken and unannounced way, a performance activates text during the opening. Spoken through the mouths of youth, the sounds of words will live momentarily and fade. The space and its visitors will absorb the audible text. Mixing past, present, and future, these sonic elements will act as seeds for further consideration.

Miga grew up in Greece, a country on the line between the perceived East and West, where the distant past, present, and desired future coexist; so for her, seeing things through a prism of constant symbiosis became a norm early on. As a female,  immigrant artist living and working in the United States, she finds humble, anti-monumental gestures and giving value to the minor and otherwise neglected of immense importance. In her practice she creates constellations of traces that ask for close examination. Marks of performative actions and traces of leftovers form a distinct understanding of what spatial identity or marking of time could be. Miga is interested in the way that we navigate and perceive our environments; in the language of objects that surround our everyday reality; in the dialogues and shifting relationships of axes such as time, physical space, form and utility; sculpture and painting. The implications of the Chute Space’s history compelled Miga to creatively acknowledge complicated environmental challenges of the past and present.

Installation View, Atlanta Contemporary, April 12 – June 3, 2018

Solo Show

Irini Miga

Atlanta Contemporary

April 12 – June 3, 2018

Reflections is a site-responsive installation that utilizes sculpture, light, film, sound, as well as performed and embodied text.

As a term, reflection refers to both imagery and perceptions. Here, these themes also evoke the allegory of Plato’s cave, where people turn their backs on reality to see the world as its shadows, as illusions. Instead, this installation stages a cavernous space as a site for sensitizing viewers to the reality of their built environment and broad environmental dilemmas. Coal revolutionized our contemporary reality and human history. Nonetheless, more than any other energy source process activity, the mining, washing, transporting, burning, and disposing of coal, damages the environment. This fossil fuel tears up land, removes mountains, contaminates rivers and causes acid rain. It is one of the main sources of lung disease globally and the largest human contribution to the atmospheric greenhouse effect. The impact of coal far exceeds that of our individual electricity bills. Indeed, coal’s expenses are not only monetary because its uses take a toll on all of us—most especially those dependent on the coal industry and the least privileged and most vulnerable among us.

Unpacking the history of this exhibition site, Irini Miga invites us to contemplate the passage of time as we view the Chute Space. Her work adjusts our eyes to the idiosyncrasies of these surroundings as a former storage room for coal.

On the short Super8 film, Longevity Was Not a Priority in The Autonomous Region of Light, we encounter a still life with a burning candle in front of a poster depicting wild horses. Such props are evocative of Americana and the exhibition space’s past use as not only a coal chute, but also a place for fixing horse carriages. Connecting the depletion of our natural resources and the periled status of the coal mining industry, this work conjures vanitas, a genre of still life that centers on perishable goods and symbolizes human greed as well as the fleeting character of human life. Playing on notions of ephemerality, the grainy quality of the video casts a moment in the present as one that belongs to the past.

A suspended wall with ceramic inserts, Marks and Dents Were Always Part of This Picture, outlines select contours of the guts of a brick surface. Nodding to the visual language of coal’s various manifestations, the inserts contain anthracite dust. A hole in the backside of the wall makes visible a faint flickering light reminiscent of burning raw material.

Hanging from the pipe, a suspended lamp sheds light onto a bowl with hand-sculpted ceramic gloves and rocks. This beaming assemblage, Contracted by Light, recalls the arduous task of collecting coal in dark mines while gesturing to the accidents there that have cost countless human lives.

A mop stands alone as a domestic element. As a sculpture, You Talk the Language of The Soil, speaks to the labor of cleaning the space and the ever-present danger of wiping away the past.

In a broken and unannounced way, a performance activates text during the opening. Spoken through the mouths of youth, the sounds of words will live momentarily and fade. The space and its visitors will absorb the audible text. Mixing past, present, and future, these sonic elements will act as seeds for further consideration.

This is a film created for the show “Reflections” at Atlanta Contemporary’s Chute Space; a former storage room for coal.

On the short Super8 film, Longevity Was Not a Priority in The Autonomous Region of Light, we encounter a still life with a burning candle in front of a poster depicting wild horses. Such props are evocative of Americana and the exhibition space’s past use as not only a coal chute but also a place for fixing horse carriages. Connecting the depletion of our natural resources and the periled status of the coal mining industry, this work conjures vanitas, a genre of still life that centers on perishable goods and symbolizes human greed as well as the fleeting character of human life. Playing on notions of ephemerality, the grainy quality of the video casts a moment in the present as one that belongs to the past.

Cosmology / Asthenia zine #07

Stano Filko, Irini Miga, Albert Mayr, Kathatina Hoeglinger, Chrysanne Stathacos, Lito Kattou, Alexios Papazacharias, Stephen Aldahl, Black Hole Generation, Kostis Velonis, Johana Pošová, Kostas Sachpazis, Hynek Alt, Thanasis Totsikas, Aleksandra Vajd, Jimena Mendoza, Antonín Jirát, Mariana Jiratová, Ricjard Nikl, Iris Touliatou, Jiri Procházka, Tomas Roubal, Amalia Vekri

organized and edited by Amalia Vekri, Antonín Jirát, Alexios Papazacharias

4.27 – 05.11.2019

Asthenia Zine 

City Surfer Office
Prague, Czech Republic

Irini Miga: Spring 2019 Artist-in-residence at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts

Room for Failure

Carmen Argote, William Cordova, Eugenio Espinoza, Cristian Franco, ektor garcia, Dorian Gaudin, David Ireland, André Komatsu, Pooneh Maghazehe, Guadalupe Maravilla, Michail Michailov, Irini Miga, Gabriel Rico, Nahum Tevet, Martha Tuttle, Sergio Vega

curated by Omar López-Chahoud

2.21 – 05.19.2019

Piero Atchugarry Gallery
Miami, USA

https://irinimiga.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/339a0e1449b6b4062056bc300d87e893.jpg

Turning the focus on the physicality of sculpture and its ability to enable deeper reexaminations of the environments we inhabit on a daily basis, an everyday mop, a humble tool of erasure, is frozen in use. It is allowing the viewer a chance to appreciate a moment, an object, and a labor that might otherwise go ignored.

Away is Another Way of Saying Here (Solo Show)

Essex Flowers, New York

January 5 – February 3, 2019

Essex Flowers
New York, USA

This is an assortment of cleaning tools made of meticulously sculpted clay and metal. This series captures the often invisible and repetitive labor of cleaning, putting on display what might otherwise be tucked away in the storage closet. These tools are a handmade replica of cleaning tools from the space that were exhibited. This set of tools is becoming a time capsule as it collects throughout the duration of the show everything that falls on the ground. From the dust of installing the works on the walls to visitors’ leftovers and everything in between this work is becoming a vessel of discarded time and space.

When You Were Bloom

Keith Burns, Justin Cloud, Patrick Groth, Stephanie Hier, Irini Miga, Bridget Mullen, Douglas Rieger

July 20 – August 24, 2018

Thierry Goldberg Gallery
New York, USA

ex-chamber memo (overseas) 5

When You Were Bloom, Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York

Re:

When You Were Bloom,

with:

Keith Burns, Justin Cloud, Patrick Groth, Stephanie Hier, Irini Miga, Bridget Mullen, Douglas Rieger

July 20 – August 31, 2018

@Thierry Goldberg Gallery

New York

Irini Miga: May 2018 Artist-in-residence at Fountainhead, Miami, FL

Daily Lazy

Irini Miga at Atlanta Contemporary / Atlanta

Re:

Reflections (Solo Show)

curated by Daniel Fuller

April 12 – June 3, 2018

Atlanta Contemporary

Atlanta, USA

BLOUIN ARTINFO

Larry Ossei-Mensah’s ‘Selections’ at Elizabeth Dee, New York

Re:

Selections by Larry Ossei-Mensah

with:
Anthony Giannini, Leslie Jimenez, Irini Miga, Ronny Quevedo

curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah

January 27 – March 10, 2018

Elizabeth Dee Gallery
New York, USA

Artforum

Critics’ pick, Shanghai,

“Scraggly Beard Grandpa” CAPSULE SHANGHAI,

by Todd Meyers

Re:

Scraggly Beard Grandpa

with:

Weiyi Li, Yunyu “Ayo” Shih, Xinyi Cheng, Rania Ho, Wang Wei, Taro Masushio, Ali Van, Casey Robbins, Zheng Yuan, Seon Young Park, Irini Miga, and João Vasco Paiva

Curated by Cici Wu, assembled by Wang Xu, co-founders of PRACTICE

November 4 – December 22, 2017

Capsule Shanghai
Shanghai, China

Ran Dian

Migratory Practice

by Benny Shaffer

Re:

Scraggly Beard Grandpa

with:

Weiyi Li, Yunyu “Ayo” Shih, Xinyi Cheng, Rania Ho, Wang Wei, Taro Masushio, Ali Van, Casey Robbins, Zheng Yuan, Seon Young Park, Irini Miga, and João Vasco Paiva

Curated by Cici Wu, assembled by Wang Xu, co-founders of PRACTICE

November 4 – December 22, 2017

Capsule Shanghai
Shanghai, China

Flash Art

Outside ART021 and West Bund / Shanghai Art Week,

by Alvin Jiahuan Li

Re:

Scraggly Beard Grandpa

with:

Weiyi Li, Yunyu “Ayo” Shih, Xinyi Cheng, Rania Ho, Wang Wei, Taro Masushio, Ali Van, Casey Robbins, Zheng Yuan, Seon Young Park, Irini Miga, and João Vasco Paiva

Curated by Cici Wu, assembled by Wang Xu, co-founders of PRACTICE

November 4 – December 22, 2017

Capsule Shanghai
Shanghai, China

The Huffington Post

Your Guide to Navigating Athens’ Art Scene, Beyond documenta 14

by Natalie Hegert

Re:

*bang!

with: Lito Kattou, Irini Miga, Tula Plumi and Natalie Yiaxi

 April 4−May 14, 2017

Daily Lazy Projects, Athens

Athens, Greece

Ocula

The Equilibrists: A report from Greece by Stephanie Bailey

Re:

Time Out New York

Frida Smoked by Howard Halle

Re:

Frida Smoked.

with Genesis Belanger, Anne Doran, Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, Ilse Getz, Irini Miga, and Amanda Nedham

May 13 – June 19, 2016

Invisible-Exports

New York, USA

A collection of used nails, and handmade ones (with clay and wood) in different shapes and lengths, all aiming for a single point. The converging nails evoke a target; personal goals and the aiming for a shared space.

Reflections (Solo Show)

Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta

Irini Miga

curated by Daniel Fuller

April 12 – June 3, 2018

Atlanta Contemporary

Atlanta, USA

A balancing act. A metal rod covered with the yearly review from the New York Times cover on the 31st December 2017. This is the first yearly review for the new political condition in the US, where hard-won human rights are being eroded, hate speeches are on the rise and “fake news” become part of our everyday terminology and life in general. The rod casts a downward, drawn shadow.

I get offered a cigarette from a friend that smokes. I take the cigarette as a memento of something that connects us. I do not smoke. I keep the cigarette and take it to my studio. I have four of those now – from a special someone, my flatmate, and two friends of mine. I take out the filling and replace it with black marble dust. Marble, along with clay, carry a special value of time and they connect me to my Greek heritage. Inside the cigarette the black marble dust resembles a burnt residue. I carve the wall in the exact shape of the cigarette and nest it there. With a lighter I slight burn the wall – only for the shadow of smoke. This piece represents for me a petrified moment in time, a moment against monumentality, one that connects me with my people, even though I do not smoke.

While I work on my pieces, I take photos of the remnants of my actions. I print those photos on disposable paper towels in a 1:1 scale. When they are placed back in the space, these sculptures stand as “lizards” that adjust to their environments, mocking the passing of time. What was once there now becomes a sculptural ephemera. 

Handmade and glazed bananas balance on a metal line, as a drawing in the space, where the weights play the role of the balancing instructor.

A play of materials disguised in various forms.

Reforming and anthropomorphising two blouses while aiming for a dialogue between two different art movements of the 20^th century.

Reforming and anthropomorphising two blouses while aiming for a dialogue between two different art movement of the 20^th century.

Car Service II

Sarah Abu Abdallah, Neil Beloufa, Irini Miga, Vasilis Papageorgiou, Superflex, Dimitris Zampopoulos

curated by Danai Giannoglou and Vasilis Papageorgiou

27.05 – 15.06.2017

Enterprise Projects

Athens, Greece