Two sociology professors, Nikos Panagiotopoulos and Franz Schultheis, and sculptor Venia Dimitrakopoulou attempt, in their joint publication titled MIRRORS: Polyphonic Narratives for a Social World in Crisis, to make known and recognizable one of the significant stakes of our time: that it is time for the arts and social sciences to unite their symbolic weapons to create a new form of intellectual intervention in the public space, capable of defending a social world that is shaking and deconstructing under the new international forms of domination.
With their attention focused on today's Europe, which is increasingly distancing itself from the realistic utopia that initially characterized it, transforming the political dreams of many of its citizens into nightmares, the two sociologists studied both Greece and Germany, aiming to highlight the deep contradictions of neoliberal capitalism.
Presenting their research findings side by side, they offer the reader a comparative analysis of the two societies, the Greek and the German, which, while seemingly diametrically opposed in a Europe of varying speeds and powers, are equally governed by the harsh socio-historical changes dictated by the radicalized commodity logic of global capitalism.
In the two books titled The Economy of Misery and The Misery of Economy, women and men share their daily experiences within a lawless social world, speaking about their lives, from which today’s crisis seems to have stripped away any realizable and predictable future.
Prompted by this research material, Venia Dimitrakopoulou explores the contradictions of these human beings, on both material and symbolic levels, and creates the visual work MIRRORS, published in the third book titled Dialogues, which aims to serve as a "tool" for restoration and emancipation, contributing to the realization of their fundamental common goal: to empower all these "everyday people," who are experiencing the violent disruption of their relationships with the feasible, the probable, and the permissible, to emerge from the darkness, gain social visibility, and transform into mirrors, in which observers can recognize themselves and, by looking into them, better understand their own social condition.
23 Coins
To earn Skroutz Coins, join Skroutz Plus and accept the terms of the reward program.