Stelios Manousakis (GR/NL) is an artist exploring relationships between time, space, body, system, and sound. His work is particularly concerned with the invisible and the ephemeral, and with shaping sensation, perception and experience in time. His practice lies in the convergence zones of art, philosophy, science and engineering; it extends from performances, to environments and interactive installations, to compositions, fixed media pieces, and music for dance and film.
His work has been presented in venues & festivals across five continents. Besides his solo work, he has co-founded several music and multi-/inter-media groups and initiatives, and is the co-founding co-director and co-curator of Modern Body Festival and Modulus Foundation. He holds a PhD in Digital Arts and Experimental Media from the University of Washington.
Stelios Manousakis (1980 – GR/NL) is an artist exploring relationships between time, space, body, system and sound. His work is particularly concerned with the invisible and the ephemeral, and with dynamically shaping sensation, perception and experience. His practice lies in the convergence of music, art, philosophy, science and engineering; it extends from performances, to environments and interactive installations, compositions, fixed media, and music for dance and film, often merging algorithmic finesse with the immediacy of audience participation or the expressiveness of improvisation.
Stelios’s work has been shown in five continents in festivals, performance venues, centers, museums, galleries, underground spaces, film houses and public spaces such as ZKM, Museum Reina Sofia, London National Gallery, The Place, IDFA, Rewire, Audio Art, November Music, ICMC and NIME. Besides his solo work, he has co-founded several multi-/inter-media groups and music ensembles, and often collaborates with other artists as a maker or in a supportive or advisory role. Together with duo partner Stephanie Pan, he is the founding co-director and co-curator of Modern Body Festival and Modulus Foundation.
Stelios studied music and linguistics in Greece (BA), Sonology in the Netherlands (MMus), and holds a PhD in Digital Arts and Experimental Media from the University of Washington (Seattle, US).
Stelios Manousakis (1980 – GR/NL) is a Cretan-born, Netherlands-based artist exploring relationships between time, space, body, system, and sound. His practice lies in the convergence of art, philosophy, science and engineering; it extends from performances, to environments and interactive installations, to compositions, fixed media pieces, and film music.
Stelios’ work is particularly concerned with the invisible and the ephemeral, and with shaping sensation, perception and experience in time. Listening is exposed as a key interface for understanding the world – being here and now – and as a medium for targeting the deeper strata of the psyche and the brain. Visceral, yet cerebral and research-based, his works aim to communicate through raw sensory experience while being complex and multilayered. They are often designed as emergent (eco)systems or organisms, unearthing vibrant immersive worlds through reinventions of models from complexity science, cybernetics, biology, and game theory. They most often involve software that he develops, and merge algorithmic finesse with the immediacy of audience participation, or the expressiveness of improvisation. Many of his works involve some type of feedback process – audio-based, algorithmic, between systems, machines and/or humans. Over the last dozen years, he has been exploring the impacts, side-effects and hidden properties of communication infrastructure, with a particular focus on wireless transmission.
Stelios’ work has been shown in 35 countries and 5 continents in varied festivals, performance venues, centers, museums, galleries, film houses, underground spaces and public spaces, such as ZKM Karlsruhe, dOCUMENTA, Museum Reina Sofia, London National Gallery, The Place, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Rewire festival, Audio Art festival, November Music, Athens Digital Arts Festival, IEM Graz, International Computer Music Conference and New interfaces for Musical Expression. His compositions have received international awards from Gaudeamus, the European Conference of Promoters for New Music, and Cittá de Udine. Besides his solo work, he has co-founded several music ensembles and multi-/inter-media groups – such as They Gather, Computer Aided Breathing, Center no Distractor, SelectInput and more. Together with duo partner Stephanie Pan, he is the co-founding co-director and co-curator (as well as technical director) of the intermedial Modern Body Festival and Modulus Foundation (Stichting Modulus).
Stelios also frequently collaborates with other artists as a maker or in a supportive or advisory role. He has extensive experience working as an independent advisor and researcher, software and hardware designer/developer, music producer and sound engineer, technical producer for other artists and initiatives internationally. Recent clients include Rewire festival, Cinekid festival, Genetic Choir, Wolfsbloem, Paul Devens, Jeanette Groenendaal, Emile Hermans, Stephanie Pan, Gustavo H. Serpa and Selva De Mar. He has also been a jury member for several international conferences and art institutions, such as International Computer Music Conference, Sound and Music Computing, and other.
Stelios studied music and linguistics in Greece (BA from the National University of Athens, GR), Sonology in the Netherlands (MMus from the Institute for Sonology at the Royal Conservatorium The Hague, NL), and holds a PhD in Digital Arts and Experimental Media from the University of Washington (DXARTS, Seattle, US).
As an educator, he has created and taught graduate and post-graduate courses at the University of Washington (Seattle, US) and ArtEZ (Arnhem, NL), as well as seminars and workshops in universities and art centers in the US, UK, the Netherlands, Australia, Spain, Germany, and Austria.