Kyriaki Goni
The collective purr

Last June, hundreds of scientists from all over the world working together under the banner of the International Pulsar Timing Array coalition published their findings about slow ripples in space-time, described as the background noise of existence. Difficult to detect, these subtle waves traverse the universe; they squeeze and stretch everything they come across. Astronomers have several theories as to where these gravitational waves come from. They could emanate from supermassive black holes billions of times more massive than the Sun, or they may be ripples from the very origin of our universe, the Big Bang. In order to uncover signs of this low-frequency rhythm, astronomers studied pulsars: the dead cores of stars that burned out in supernovas spin furiously and flash beams acting like cosmic lighthouses.

As astrophysicist Adam Frank wrote for The Atlantic, “Through 15 long years of sweat and perseverance, the NANOGrav scientists patiently tracked tiny changes in the burst patterns of 67 pulsars scattered across the Milky Way. They found that a small change in the period of any one pulsar’s signal was linked to changes in the others’… All of a sudden, we know that we are humming in tune with the entire universe, that each of us contains the signature of everything that has ever been. It’s all within us, around us, pushing us to and fro as we hurtle through the cosmos.”

Taking its cue from the astrophysicist’s nickname for this outstanding discovery, “the collective purr” is an exhibition and public program that actively reflects on the more-than human existence, its hums and vibes, its contradictions, overlapping emanations and unpredictable twists.

“the collective purr” is fascinated by the poetry in science, the queerness of the cosmos, the entry on the possible that they provide.

“the collective purr” hums with the words of Moten and Harney, “We have always figured out, in the here and now, ways to stir up ripples of daily care that expand into tidal waves of fugitive power” (All Incomplete).

“the collective purr” pays special tribute to Saidiya Hartman’s notion of waywardness that “articulates the paradox of cramped creation, the entanglement of escape and confinement, flight and captivity… the practice of the social otherwise, the insurgent ground that enables new possibilities and new vocabularies” (Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments). “the collective purr” is emerging out of the exhibition and public program of “outraged by pleasure” realized in the Fall of 2023 at the Nobel building. It thus extends the series of performative talks and events initiated then under the title “The resistance of the fireflies,” with a focus on art and degrowth, convivial practices of solidarity at a time of global meltdown, entangled existences, and melding circumstances.

“the collective purr” celebrates the undying purr of “a surrealist state of mind” on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first Surrealist Manifesto (1924) and its call for non-conformism. The background noise of existence has recently been more of a roar than a purr, the death rattle of war, the wheeze of agony, the swoosh of fleeing, the beat of fear, the wail of pain, the blare of social media, the scream of authoritarianism, the drowning sound of angry compliance.

Artists and artworks in the exhibition respond to the somewhat optimistic scientific discovery with the whimsical name, by suggesting ways to go beyond it, and be intimate with the impossible.

They trace the bees’ waggle dances as they disappear; they follow the distancing flicker of fireflies; they tune into the non-verbal communication of frogs, goats, owls, werewolves, of plants, rocks, water ripples, fire crackle, vacant spaces, insurgent exchanges; they track the frequency of cat purr and the din of dominance; they enter the horse’s mouth and the squid’s abysmal float; they enable the murmur of the dead; they prick their ears to the whistle of the wind and the whistled communication of remote communities entangled with their land; they expose the grinding rhythm of extraction, the vibe of violence, the sigh of negative space; they roam into ruins, lakes and urban forests; they dive into the hollowed buzz of artificial intelligence and the web of fabulations; they experiment with the intricacy and gracefulness of knowing-through-engagement; they play with the quasi absurd idea that “the whole universe is Mongolian throat singing” (Adam Frank), and yield to possibilities of collectivity that are rogue-in-spirit, messy, and radical in overall mood and everyday action. To be spellbound by the blackbird’s singing “with all the enthusiasm of his body… and determination to vary each series of notes” is to leave behind the task of explaining the world and be engaged with multiplying the modes of interpreting it; it is most importantly a way to hijack competitive exclusion and ponder on the difference between a sung territory and a collective one (Vinciane Despret). For the abysmal mystery of the other to be revealed, mutual suction (attraction) is essential, like in a dialogue between friends, the tale told by Vampyroteuthis Infernalis reminds us; “for a friend, his friend is not a problem: he is mysterious” (Vilém Flusser).

The exhibition and events of “the collective purr” are marked by the errantry of the artists’ quest, and are meant to be understood as bodies in motion, spiraling around each other and in hum-generating collision; as gestures “guessing at the world and seizing at chance” (Saidiya Hartman); as an experiment on the revolutionary potential of bewilderment and free association towards a post-capitalist life of mutual aid.

“the collective purr” is not the outcome of an artistic research, a curatorial process, a transdisciplinary work, but a question on open forms of aesthetic sociality.

“the collective purr” does not center on animalhood, personhood, wildness, trans-species, the space-time continuum, the politics of sustainable co-existence. It rather partakes of “an improvisation with the terms of social existence” and how this sociality may be expanded, troubled, quantumized. In other words, if every purr, every hum, every song is really the same song, then the infinite variety of the ways the song is crooned is a matter of life and freedom.

“the collective purr” is curated by Nadja Argyropoulou and shared by the following artists and art entities: Christos Adrianopoulos, Babak Ahteshamipour, Athanasios Argianas, ANOSIA x Tassos Vrettos, Paul Chan, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Dora Economou, Giorgos Efthimiou, Andreas Embiricos (1901–1975), Makis Faros x Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975), Theodoros Giannakis, Takis Giannousas (1923–2010), Kyriaki Goni, Latent Community (Sotiris Tsiganos, Ionian Bisai), Petros Moris, Olga P., Vasilis Patmios Karouk, Janis Rafa, David Sampethai, Ioannis Skourletis, Chrysanthos Sotiropoulos, Ira Triandafyllides (1896–1991), Vampyroteuthis Infernalis, Eva Vretzaki, Phillip Warnell.

Team of collaborators: Curator’s Assistant: Evelyn Zempou Visual Identity and Print Material: Adrianos Efthymiadis Audiovisual Design and Installation: Makis Faros, Antonis Gkatzougiannis Contributing Architect: Sofia Tektonidou Lighting Design: Nikos Vlasopoulos Text Editing & Translation: Fotini Pipi Transport and Installation of Artworks: Move Art Insurance: Karavias Underwriting Agency S.A. Production: Saprofyta Organization: City of Chalandri Sponsor: FLYA, Municipal SA for the Management of the City of Chalandri’s Real Estate Sponsor: Karavias Underwriting Agency S.A.