Vasilios Papaioannu
Parenthesis has won the video contest “Flow” organized by Synkroniciti and will be part of the June Issue of both the online magazine publication and the archive.
Vasilios Papaioannu’s “Parenthesis,” which is not only a work of great beauty and meaning, but captures the essence of flow in terms of time, memory, and thought. Vasilios used a Super 8 camera and stitched together four and half minutes of abstract consciousness, bordered by a woman standing by the seaside. She dives into the water in the final seconds. The video evokes a pause in reality that is like the pauses our minds create when we are lost in memory, dreams or reverie. We see snatches of things, animals, people and environments, as we hear the pounding of the surf. The moment at hand is obscured and supplanted by other moments, which dance through our mind’s eye without any discernable connection to one another. One thinks obliquely of existence, of past, present and future, of life and death, and the repeating patterns that make up our lives.
The medium of Super 8, with its grainy texture, dreamy lighting and vintage nostalgia, is the perfect vehicle for a movie exploring human cognition like “Parenthesis.” We are so pleased to award it our prize and to feature it in our upcoming issue (June 1st).
