⁰¹ Where are the people that talk on the radio?, 2008, log, CDs, digital images, 72 × 72 × 12 cm. Photo: Matthias Kolb.
⁰² Network Sculpture, 2009, aluminium, ethernet cable, 110 × 110 × 180 cm. Installation View La boîte de Pandore — Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 2016. Photo: Andrea Rossetti.
⁰³ Network Time, 2011, wireless routers, fiber optics, electronics, software, dimensions variable. Installation view Import Projects, Berlin, 2013.
⁰⁴ Anthemion (detail), 2015, 3D alumide print, aluminum coating, 48.54 × 36.07 × 9 cm. Installation view Hungarian House of Photography - Mai Manó Ház Budapest, 2019. Photo: © Hungarian House of Photography - Mai Manó Ház Budapest.
⁰⁵ Unfolded (Branch), 2019, pine (burnt & charred), 173.5 × 17.5 × 12 & 181 × 43 × 0.3 cm. Installation view Galerie Konrad Fischer, Berlin, 2019.
⁰⁶ Rol_l_ed_K_eyboar_d, 2021, bauxite, aluminium, 63 × 39 × 22.1 cm. Photo: Andrea Rossetti.
⁰⁷ K_enn_ecot_t, 2021, cast bronze, 52.4 × 41 × 6.4 cm. Installation view Kunstverein Meissen, 2023. Photo: Thorsten A. Kasper.

In 2008, digressing from the dominant discourse of the art world, which at the time was ‘Relational Aesthetics’, Spiros Hadjidjanos cuts a slice of a tree trunk, photographs it from every possible angle, saves the photographs in CDs (remember those?) and intersects this ‘prosthetic’ part to the rest of the trunk. The photographs of the trunk, its immaterial aspect, ‘replace’ part of its physical presence. ‘Prosthetic’ and ‘replace’ are set in quotation marks, as there is where all the problematic lies: Is it added on? Is it a replacement? What is the relationship between the immaterial data of a representation and of a depiction with the physical world? Where does presence lie, how do we exist and co-exist? ‘How do we connect with this new, rapid and almost violent explosion of this new world racing’, he asks, as he tries to introduce me to his body of work and explain his practice.

For the next fifteen years, these open questions and many more lie at the heart of the artistic process of Spiros Hadjidjanos, a Greek visual artist, based in Berlin. There is one word to describe an encounter with a visionary artist whose imagination and intellectual rigor open new routes for art - and that is joy. It is the joy of ‘deep thinking’, as Steven Humblet, would call it, the director of the research group ‘Thinking Tools’ of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp who offered me ‘Off Camera’, the remarkable publication he edited in 2021, including the work of Spiros Hadjidjanos. Back tracking, Steven Humblet was introduced to Hadjidjanos’ work when he visited the seminal exhibition ‘Pandora’s Box: Jan Dibbets on Another Photography’ curated by conceptual artist Jan Dibbets at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris in 2016. That exhibition opened with a painting by Ingres and ended with the work of Spiros Hadjidjanos, along with the works of Thomas Ruff.

Part of the mission of PHLSPH - Philosophy & Photography Lab is to connect with artists whose work not only brings to the fore conceptual dimensions worth discussing, but could also inform the philosophers’ research. Here is a short interview from our on-line encounter.


Alexandra Athanasiadou: A common thread in your works is the transfiguration of the immateriality of information into photographic objects which use the medium in a hybrid way, going beyond the appearance of a two-dimensional image. The viewer becomes part of an experience with the image. Would you like perhaps to share an analogy which would describe your practice?

Spiros Hadjidjanos: The rationale behind the sensation that you describe, namely that ‘The viewer becomes part of an experience with the image’, stems, I think, from my conceptualization of photography that transcends mere representation. My objective, whether embedded in the work or manifested in its presentation, is to evoke a perception that resonates on an embodied level. Through this approach I seek to reveal the very texture and structure of images. For this reason, I’m interested in structures that serve the concatenation of a series of intricate processes rather than in what is shown in the images themselves. However, at both the initiation and culmination of these processes, the material substrate serves as a pivotal element; I begin and conclude in the realm of the physical. Describing a visual mind-map verbally, with its inherent fluidity, could serve as an analogy for my practice, naturally transcending and branching out into various mediums. It’s about full control and the complete lack of it.

AA: In your work ‘K_enn_ecot_t’, you start off from an aerial image of the largest artificial excavation in the world (Bingham Canyon Mine), convert it into data and then you create a 3D-printed mold to bring into life an object via bronze casting; in this translation from one ‘language’ into another, there are different temporalities involved. The trajectory I would trace is the following: earthly eternal materials traverse time; then they are represented in an image, which brings in a temporal enclave of its own, related to the context and the intention of its maker, then transfigured into data, which can only become outdated but never grows old, to ultimately be re-established after your decision in the ‘real world’. Is this interplay of different temporalities something that also interests you?

SH: Yes, I am very interested in the temporalities that you describe, even though I perceive them in a literal sense because they become integral to the work mostly through layers of research. But combining all these elements together, as an author, I am also particularly drawn to temporalities associated with my working processes, namely temporalities that occur between a simulated space and the material realm. My fascination extends to temporalities linked to the tangible manifestation of the work, that unfold through experimentation on a physical plane with materials, technical possibilities, and processes. These become part of the work’s concept as much as the more conceptually ‘defined’ temporalities that you described. Ultimately, all these temporalities are molded through a multidirectional exchange and process. Notably, advancements in technology, such as the utilization of 3D printed molds that endure very high temperatures, built layer by layer from silica sand -another earthly eternal material- have facilitated and made ‘K_enn_ecot_t’ and the casting of ‘computational objects’ feasible. It is not only about the added complexity of these molds but also about the fact that they derive from a virtual environment par excellence and manifested with bronze, the material of sculpture par excellence. This introduces possibilities to this ancient process which until recently were non-existent.

AA: If I were to create a metaphorical image of the process of your works ‘Network Sculptures’ or ‘Network Time’, I would visualize the drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the pioneering neuroscientist of the twentieth century; just like he managed to show the trajectory of neural networks in his drawings, in your works, the viewer has the sense that you color, give volume, sculpt (in a manner of speaking) the invisible routes of information. Is extending our understanding of the world part of your field of interest? And of which world would that be?

SH: These works started as thought experiments, all filtered through the technologies integral to them before being realized physically. Despite their seemingly effortless appearance, both works were materialized by studying thoroughly the network protocols they rely on; at that time it was important for me to understand the possibilities and the physics, if you will, behind these technologies. My hope is that engaging with them prompts a similar shift in perspective or even sparks an epistemological transformation. At their essence, these works explore forging 'temporal and spatial dimensions' from nothingness. Answering your question ‘of which world that would be’, the raison d'être of both works hinges on the existence of a very real intermediary space between virtual and material related to information theory, cybernetics and the necessity of information to always be embodied. Regarding ‘Network Sculpture’, you can physically interact with the electrons flowing through the network; the sculpture has been transformed into the infrastructure it represents. ‘Network Time’ delves into the conceptualization of temporality from a psychological vantage, an inquiry to the subjective experience of data and information flows. It endeavors to establish a temporal metric detached from conventional time zones, offering a nuanced exploration of time perception in a networked age.

AA: Many of your works are anchored in elements from the natural environment in Greece, like the burnt tree trunk in the ‘Unfolded Branch’, ‘Rol_l_ed_K_eyboar_d Bauxite’ using bauxite sourced by you near Delphi or even from the Greek historical landscape, like ‘Anthemion’ linked with the ornament frieze of the Erechtheum. What is the role of these references in your creative process? Do they resonate with your memories, do they highlight relations of affinity or links with your embodied experience which have been recorded and are made ‘present’ in your works?

SH: These materials serve as records that add a deeply personal and intimate layer and I see them functioning akin to a personal diary, capturing both previous and contingent records. Because of their inherent importance, they come imbued with a profound charge, requiring minimal intervention on my part. In that way they can function as found objects, because materials and objects have memory, literally and metaphorically. Moreover, these materials being shown out of their context serve as hubs, seamlessly bridging my personal history with the spaces in which they are exhibited, weaving new trajectories that mirror my own experiences.

AA: Would you like to share with us a line or two of your most recent work? Its intent and its challenges?

SH: Thoughts and questions I am currently engaged with are the following: How could geo-political content be effectively communicated without recourse to visual representation? Or more specifically, what is the interplay of the ‘geo’ in geopolitics and the enduring impact of geological timescales on the unfolding of political events? I am also increasingly interested in working with biodegradable materials investigating how feasible producing locally is -particularly in the context of digital fabrication- without imposing constraints on the intrinsic conceptual and material properties of my work(s). An ongoing research also involves investigating the inner workings of artificial intelligence algorithms for transforming text into images and images into other visual forms. And lastly, within the scope of my current research at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, I am exploring photosensitive chemicals in relation to computational fabrication, seeking to uncover intersections between these distinct realms.


Spiros Hadjidjanos (*1978) is a Greek visual artist who lives and works in Berlin. Hadjidjanos studied with a DAAD scholarship at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) where he was awarded the Meisterschülerpreis des Präsidenten. Currently, he is a researcher at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. His practice spans across different media and is informed by his critical reflection on technological processes and his personal biography. Since the beginning of his artistic practice, he has explored computational images by technological means, primarily referencing the transformation from photographic record to data points with works that traverse spatial, temporal, calculable, and material dimensions. He has created set-design for theaters such as the Volksbühne in Berlin and Kammerspiele in Munich and has exhibited his work in galleries and institutions such as the Yerba Buena Center for The Arts in San Francisco, KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, Städel Museum in Frankfurt, Musée d’Art Moderne and Palais de Tokyo in Paris and K20 Düsseldorf.

Alexandra Athanasiadou, PhD, is the founder and director of the PHLSPH – Philosophy & Photography Lab, an online international platform connecting philosophers with visual artists using the photographic medium through workshops, discussions, mentorship and tailor-made activities designed for knowledge sharing. She has been working with artists for the past fifteen years by exploring different positions in the photography world through various collaborations with institutions, organizations, festivals and galleries. She holds a PhD in philosophy (Aesthetics) from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, a Master of Arts from the Courtauld Art Institute in London, and is a graduate of Oxford University (St. Hilda’s College) and of the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Athens).