Visiting Artist: Alcaeus Spyrou's 'Anina'

Thursday 26 April at 6pm | Bishop's Court

For the latest in our series of Visiting Artists and Lecturers, Greek/Albanian filmmaker Alcaeus Spyrou will present his debut film, Anina, taking questions after the screening and his talk.

Spyrou's work concerns the industrial landscape of the planet, exploring our mechanized relationship to the world through themes of migration and displacement. The film has been nominated for multiple short film awards and has played at festivals across Europe. 

Alcaeus Spyrou is a lens-captured-media artist, researching the cinematic image and the psyche of contemporary migration. Born in Albania and raised in Athens, his migrant upbringing would focus his gaze towards shifting landscapes. He studied BA Fine Art at Middlesex University in London, and is a recipient of the John Walker Prize for outstanding Academic Achievement.

'In the constant rhythm of migration,' says Spyrou, 'I find myself at home. As a filmmaker, I research the cinematic image and its ability to stand independent of the human voice. The narrative device of the film essay enables me to link the psyche of the migrant with neglected landscapes that shift into desolation.'

'Through the scope of psycho-geography, I wander into the virtual space of displacement, capturing its distinct flora and fauna. The shifting landscape, in its malevolent hyper-nature and dark ecology, can mirror the violence deriving from our public, yet discrete, consequences of our access to excess.'

Since the beginning of his professional career, Spyrou has exhibited his work internationally through institutions such as Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Liverpool Biennial, the Whitechapel Gallery and the European Media Art Festival among others. 'Anina' marks Alcaeus’s directorial debut.