11 – KONSTANTIN DIMOPOULOS
WISH YOU WERE HERE
In this highly poetic work, Dimopoulos mixes the history of his family’s immigration with that of change, abandonment and memory. He proposes a symbolic parallel between his own experience and that of several immigrants who chose Canada as their new home. In this new work, the artist expresses the idea that, within the context of immigration, a house is not defined by its walls but by what we carry within ourselves. The house – the one we leave behind and the one we try to build – aptly symbolizes this idea of identity switching between our past and our future, between what we have lost and what we have gained.
Materials: Wood, paint, hardware.
Creative Process
Dimopoulos’s artistic practice takes a number of forms: installation art, sculpture, performance, painting, printing, drawing, as well as social and environment actions. Art represents a collective commitment for him and is a means through which change can be initiated. Dimopoulos develops a language that is specific to each of his thematic constructions, depending on their context. The visual and conceptual vocabulary that he employs leads the spectator towards the paths of humanist philosophy and sociology, a discipline that is very dear to the artist.
The Artist
Konstantin Dimopoulos was born in Egypt to Greek parents. When he was eight years old, his family immigrated to New Zealand. He now lives in the United States. In 2005, he participated in the World’s Fair in Aichi, Japan. In 2011, he had an exhibition at the Vancouver Biennale and, in 2013, at the Busan Biennale in South Korea.
