Sinodós

The ancient Greek term “sinodós” (Συνοδός), which literally translates as “Travel Companion,” carries both practical and symbolic dimensions. It refers to the person who shares one’s journey, whether across physical landscapes or through spiritual realms. In the sacred context of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the sinodós was the guide entrusted with leading the initiate through a profound rite of passage, marking the transition into deeper knowledge and transformation. Embracing the intricate layers of references and the shared cultural language of his homeland, Cyprus, Meletios Meletiou creates a site-specific installation conceived as a disorienting journey through perceptions and spontaneous associations.

A life-sized puppet, meticulously hand-stitched from thermoplastic polyurethane, hovers in the space like an amulet or a cumbersome relic of childhood memory. It engages in a silent dialogue with a series of floor sculptures, whose patterns recall the rusticated stonework of ancient architecture, disrupting and transforming the spatial order. These seemingly disjointed elements sketch an ambiguous and displaced inner landscape, where the familiar aura of domestic and childhood realms clashes with allusions to the imposing facades of monumental buildings.

Play, affection, innocence, nostalgia, familiarity, safety, separation. Meletios Meletiou weaves a tapestry of contradictions and tensions around the associations typically evoked by the puppet as a playful object or surrogate figure of affection, and the materials and forms of classical Western architecture. The transparency of the puppet’s synthetic material conjures a visionary scenario, transforming it into an optical device, a lens that refracts and reshapes the surrounding space. In his essay The Transparency Society (2012), Byung-Chul Han, envisioned a “dictatorship of visibility,” describing the shift from a world conceived as theater and representation to one transformed into a domain of absolute proximity—a place of relentless exposure where the boundaries between interior and exterior dissolve. Here, “intimacy destroys distance,” erasing even the essential separation required for play and making it impossible to trace or preserve the contours of the self.

Meletiou’s installation challenges the conventional notion of transparency as a symbol of truth, validation, and surveillance, instead presenting it as a playful and magical force that reshapes space. Through a choreography of light, shadow, and monochromatic surfaces, the artist evokes the mechanisms of a magic lantern: the hollow, transparent puppet, illuminated by a beam of light and cast as the lone protagonist on a dark stage, does not project its own form but only its texture, reminiscent of the surface of a restless sea. In this theater of transparency, with the lights extinguished, everything unfolds both within and through. The journey traced by the work is defined by its transition from light to dark, as a fantastical world that reveals itself only in darkness, activating the projection system and blurring the boundary between reality and illusion.

The oversized puppet-mannequin sheds its familiar features, transforming into an uncanny presence. The floor sculptures mirror the skin of monumental architectural facades, mimicking the hardness of concrete while concealing a soft, spongy core. By weaving together diverse materials and scenarios, Meletiou deepens his exploration of play as a tool for perception and a subversion of aesthetic codes, while also probing the ethics and aesthetics of urban ornamentation. In a space devoid of familiar references or clear markers, the artist creates a reverse narrative grounded in the ineffable and in the epiphany of an inner story.

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Meletios Meletiou (b.1989, Lemesos, Cyprus) lives and works between Cyprus and Rome. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, where he graduated in Visual Arts and Decoration in 2016. Solo and group exhibitions: 2024, The Companions no.4, International Short Film Festival of Oberhausen, GE; 2023, Playground, curated by Panos Giannikopoulos, Eins Gallery, Limassol, CY; 2022, Buffer Zone, curated by Gaia Bobò, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Rome, IT; 2021, Porta Portese, SPAZIOMENSA, Rome, IT; 2020, ReSize To Fit (site-specific installation), curated by Giulia Pollicita, Una Vetrina, Rome, IT; 2018, Fenêtre Jaune Cadmium, curated by Sarah Linford, Istituto Francese di Cultura, Rome, IT; Maps-Spam, curated by Alessandra Arancio, Società Geografica Italiana/Villa Celimontana, Rome, IT; Developing Cities, curated by Angelica Gatto and Emanuele Riccomi, Superstudio, Milan, IT; 2016, Quattro artisti al Castello, curated by Cecilia Casorati, Castello di Santa Severa, IT.