Elefsis (2012), multimedia installation.
Chapter One, single-channel video installation, Arri Alexa 4K transferred on Blu-ray, 16:9, color, stereo sound. Duration: 38 minutes.
Chapter Two, three-channel video installation, synchronized, Arri Alexa 4K transferred on Blu-ray, 16:9, color & b/w, stereo sound. Duration: 13 minutes.
Chapter Three, single-channel video installation, Arri Alexa 4K transferred on Blu-ray, 16:9, color, stereo sound. Duration: 9 minutes.
Elefsis is a work of documentary-fiction about the particular history of Elefsina, a heavily industrialized bay, 40 kilometers from the city of Athens. The area back in the 80's hosted almost 60% of Greece's heavy industry, including two oil refineries, two steal factories, cement factories, shipyards, and the state’s industry for arms. Elefsina, in antiquity, was one of the five holy cities of the ancient world. It was here where the Elefsinian Mysteries took, celebrating the cycle of Seasons and the gifts of Earth to the humans. Now the signs of desolation as a result of the financial crisis are more than obvious.
The work Elefsis was commissioned, produced and presented for the first time as an situ installation in the oldest oil factory in the city of Elefsina. Combining video, performance and found objects, with photographic, and filmic archives Tsivopoulos creates a mosaic of images of labor protests, industrial development and the de-industrialization in modern Greece. Through the fragments of the past, archival and oral testimonies, Elefsis is a meditative reflection on the causes of the current economic crisis in Greece and beyond.
The film is divided into three parts or chapters, representing the three different modalities of time, Past, Present and Future. Each chapter is installed in a different building within the abandoned factory complex, requiring the viewer to move through multiple spaces and surroundings in order to view the entirety film.
