PlusX with Lena Platonos & friends hosted by soft power

PlusX is delighted to share the documentation of Lena Platonos’ concert hosted by soft power and broadcasted live on the 17th of September, 2021.

The performance by Platonos and her collaborators (Ioannis Palamidas and Stergios Tsirliagkos) took place as part of the opening of the exhibition Lena Platonos. Ιστορία της ηδονής History of delight.

It was preceded by a hyybrid live set of Yiorgos Konstantoulakis & Sphera de Noumenon (@sphera_de_noumenon & @equationscollective), as well as a special PlusX radio show episode in collaboration with Dark Entries Records (@darkentriesrecords), Eloise Leigh (@new_age_rage) and other friends of Lena’s. The photos at the concert were taken by Eike Walkenhorst and Nick Lapien.

Lena Platonos (@lenaplatonosofficial) is an “old kid” of experimental electronic music – the Greek composer is not only considered a musical pioneer, but she also stands out for her poetic and socially critical lyrics that tell of the futility of love, the abysses of human relationships and alienation marked by consumption. In her unique view of the invasion of computer technologies into our society since the 80s, of emancipation and dependence, she has always seemed ahead of her time, not only musically. With the project Ιστορία της ηδονής History of delight, soft power had the honor to offer Lena Platonos a stage in Berlin on September 17, 2021. Inaugurated by an evening of live performances, the subsequent solo exhibition exhibition with works by Platonos at soft power also features a sound installation that was born from a collaboration between Lena Platonos and Greek, Berlin-based musician Yiorgos Konstantoulakis. Framed by Platonos’ surreal and dreamy lyrics, her voice expanding in the space and contracting into repeating whispers, Ιστορία της ηδονής History of delight gives a rare insight into the little-known visual work of this feminist icon, techno avant-gardist and dreamer.

soft power (@softpowerverysoft) is an open collaborative project space dedicated to developing constructive, oppositional, and fluid discourses. As a curatorial framework, soft power aims to appropriate and reclaim a political term used and misused to describe the influence which “soft” assets such as culture and art may have on policies and economic spheres. Located amidst a community of artists studios in a former factory in Berlin-Tempelhof, the 140m² space can act as a shared stage, an exhibition setting, a living room, a workplace, a process.

Στις εξιστορήσεις της ζωής σου

συχνά ανταποκρίνομαι

με ρίγη στη ραχοκοκαλιά,

ζητώντας άλλου είδους όραση

καθώς είμαστε πια μεγάλα παιδιά

που χρειάζονται πολλά δάχτυλα

για να μετρήσουν τον πίσω χρόνο,

κι έτσι σε βλέπω, φίλε, αιμάτινη σκιά ενός ρυθμού

Είτε συμφωνείς, είτε διαφωνείς […]

που μερικοί το ονομάζουν ιστορία

και μερικοί το ονομάζουν ιστορία…της ηδονής.

To the narrations of your life

I often respond with shivers down my spine

Asking for another kind of vision

Since we are now old kids

that need a lot of fingers

to count the previous years

And just like that, I see you, my friend,

bloody shadow of a rhythm […]

that some people name history

and others name it history… of delight