Principality for a Day, 2019
Capten (Christos Kotsoulas)
Born in 1968 in Preveza; lives and works in Athens. Graduated from the Hellenic Naval Academy in 1991 and the Supreme Joint War College in 2010. As senior naval officer, he commanded the oceanographic vessel Naftilos. In parallel with his job, he studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts (graduated 2008). In October 2012, he received an award from the Hellenic National Defence General Staff; Capten’s artwork features in its Collection. In November 2012, HE the President of the Hellenic Republic presented him with the Golden Cross of the Order of Honour for outstanding achievement. Since 2017, he has been a member of the Victoria Square Project. His work is in many public and private collections.
Κaterina Zafeiropoulou
Born in 1980; lives and works in Athens. She graduated with honours from the School of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2001–6) on scholarship from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation. She graduated from the MFA Byam Shaw, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London (2008–9) as a scholar of the Christos and Kalliopi Lemos Foundation, P. Bakala Institute; she received the Nikolaos Koukouflis Foundation Award. She has held 3 solo shows and participated in more than 20 group exhibitions and art projects in Greece and other countries: Her work is in many public and private collections in Greece and other countries. She is a member of Future Scenarios artist group.
Their common work is titled Principality for a Day. The artists provide exciting information about their performance, which, according to Capten, ‘makes reference to events that occurred during the two world wars, related to Romanian propaganda seeking the annexation of Pindus Vlach-speaking Greeks and the creation of a protectorate. Capten as king declares the independence of Metsovo ‘be cause it deserves it’ and Zafeiropoulou proclaims herself President of the Republic. Capten is shown on horseback as a king in royal dress, and the Metsovo declaration of inde pendence emphasises wine and cheese.
The performance was created especially for the group anniversary exhibition “Lands of Creation, A tribute to Metsovo”, which was inaugurated at the E. Averoff Museum of Modern Art in 2019.