Maria Georgoula’s art practice and research explore notions around absurdity, apathy and a type of humour that may emerge through the glossary of soft form and banal objects. She collects them from diverse contexts and works them into sculptural assemblages, sculptural reliefs, collages, drawing and performance. Absurd theatre, satirical texts, pet shops and DIY centres in the UK, are regular points of reference and source material for her work. Many of the works may be approached as manifestations of a material polyphony, that despite taking over our everyday, may go unnoticed or be apathetically embraced through their commercial journeys. Based in the language of overlooked objects and materials, the work ultimately aims to expose the comfort zones, consumerist fixations, and entanglements between the self and the material realm, and reinforces the absurd object, and acts as comical and anthropological tools.
Selected exhibitions and events include The Benaki Museum, Athens; Hyle, Athens; Mansions of the Future, Lincoln; Mykonos Biennale, Mykonos; East Side Projects, Birmingham; Aixoni Sculpture Theatre, Athens; Kunstraum am Schauplatz, Vienna; Tinos Quarry Platform, Tinos; Kupfer, London; Daily Lazy Projects, Athens; Rogue Artists’ Project Space, Manchester; The Showroom, London; Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool; Bloc Projects, Sheffield; the Delfina Foundation, London; Circuits & Currents, Athens; the Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre, Athens; The Institute of Greek Contemporary Art, Athens; Sanhe Museum, Hang Zhou, China; Southwark Playhouse, London and Sala Rekalde, Bilbao. Georgoula is an artist and art educator who lives and works in the UK and Greece.