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The Golden Lighthouse, the first prize of Alexandria's 24th Biennale 2007, was awarded to the artist Ioannis Michalou(di)s. His work, entitled Prelude for violoncello and three violins, based on the technique of "aer()sculptures" (sculptures made out of silica aerogel), developed by the artist himself, was installed in the Fine Arts Museum of Alexandria.
This new work, shows the shadow of a female figure playing the cello next to which, hover two cello-shaped aer()sculptures and the golden colored, rotating shadow of one of the two. Beams of white light and a chord of red laser illuminate three head-shaped aer()sculptures.
Through the female figure’s chaos-shadow, emerge video recordings of anthropomorphic constellations that allude to the idea of cosmic harmony. The cellist Mariliza Papadouri contributed to the installation’s creation. The exhibition, featuring works that participated in the Biennale, opened on the 27th of November 2007 and lasted until the 8th of January 2008.
38 artists from 14 countries participated in the exhibition, organized under the auspice of President Mubarak.
The Aer()sculptures were presented for the first time in autumn 2006, at the Museum of Cycladic Art, with the support from the Onassis Foundation. They are made out of aerogel (silica aerogel), a pioneering NASA space technology material, consisting of 99.9% air and 0.1% glass.
Ioannis Michalou(di)s studied Plastic Arts at the University of Sorbonne where he obtained a Master’s degree. From 2001 to 2003, he carried out his postdoctoral research in Art and Science in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
