Who is Haris Metaxa, Curator of "OPEN BORDERS" Exhibition project

HARIS METAXA , A LIFE OF WORDS, CONCEPTS AND SOME ACTIONS, TOO...

BIOGRAPHY, STUDIES AND PROJECTS


I was born in the '60s in Heraklion,the Venetian Candia, capital of Crete at the south end of Greece.
I loved the sun and sea, I was passionate about the Minoan civilization and happy to be born in Greece so I could speak Greek and discover the classics but I longed for discovery, mystery, alterity and ethical values that could be applied to present times.
Indulgence in the glories of the past annoyed me.
Denial of other people and cultures was a weight on my soul.
Easy nationalism and self-celebration was making me claustrophobic.
I understood from an early age how mythological each national language is as it places each single nation at the center of the universe.
I wanted to learn more languages, to access different points of view on history and identity in order to find a universal center for truth and action.
So I left Greece in a hurry for Italy upon graduation from the local high school.
In Italy I studied Philosophy for 5 years, one spent in Salerno in the south of Italy, just under Napoli and the last 4 in Florence.
I wrote my dissertation on English Analytical Philosophy (Cambridge school, G.E.Moore) and I specialized in Contemporary Philosophy and Ethics.
Next came London for 5 years, studies of cinema and script writing, then back to Florence where I opened a multimedia consultancy company, Faust Communications, and worked as a teacher of languages (English and Italian) and a creator of cultural holidays.
Then came the final departure, just over 10 years ago, from Florence to Paris at the end of 1997 to do a PHD in Philosophy at La Sorbonne, on the last writings of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, concentrating on the question of the body and identity as presented in "Le visible et l'invisible".
At the same time, I became more serious about writing and publishing, I started an ongoing collaboration on cultural topics with English, Italian and Greek magazines and also started presenting my poetry to the public in performances, experiments with sound (CDs available) as well as in poetry-theatre events (Segesta 2001, poetry-theatre performance at "Le albe poetiche").

I published one volume of poetry in Italy in 2003 and in the same year I started post-graduate studies in Translation and Conference Interpretation in Paris (Esit) and then in Edinburgh, (Heriot-Watt University), where I graduated in 2006.
The languages for all my activities are, at the moment, the following 4: Greek, English, Italian and French.
Today I happily continue being a twofold individual, a professional Linguist and a commited Poet and Philosopher very interested in culture and the arts.
All that while opening up to and addressing the whole world from the bitter-sweet microcosm of Paris...
Now is the sun and sea I long for, of course...


ACTIVITIES AS AN ART CURATOR

(C) DOUGLAS DE CARVALHO, 2009, "BODIES OF GRACE" EXPO, "thE Magic garden"

« BODIES OF GRACE » was my first work as a Curator in collaboration with sculptor Karine Jollet for the concept and its realization on the level of single artworks and general open-air exhibition.
It also was the realization of a fundamental dream of mine, that of the collaboration of poetry and sculpture and I thank very much indeed Karine Jollet who gave it such a lovely, elegant, touching white flesh for us all to enjoy...
The exhibition took place in Paris in a garden in June 2009 and you can discover it here: http://bodiesofgracecorpsdegrace.blogspot.com/


In 2011 I created WICCAN, an International Culture and Art network open to all creative individuals and in collaboration with Giuliana Balbi, who is liaising with the Italian side and who found the exhibition venue for us, I have conceived and curated the international « OPEN BORDERS » exhibition project to be presented at the town hall in Muggia in August 2011.
The project includes the idea of International touring of the exhibition.
More on WICCAN on http://wiccan-network.blogspot.com/

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND DISCOGRAPHY

(c) DOUGLAS DE CARVALHO, 2009, "BODIES OF GRACE" EXPO, "FRAGMENTS" book

« Sei movimenti », CD based on my texts, music by Martina Cizek, Vienna, 2002.

« Sei movimenti », Libroitaliano, Ragusa, 2003.

« Rosso e Nero », CD based on a double improvisation, poems read by me and wind instuments played by Martina Cizek, Vienna 2005.
« Fragments », a « Bodies of Grace » production, Artist book in collaboration with Karine Jollet, limited and signed edition of 50 copies, 2009.
« Confiture/Confession », CD on recent poems, music by Martina Cizek, Vienna, January 2010.

See here: http://harismetaxa.blogspot.com/2010/01/work-in-progress-cd-of-my-poems-in-5.html


See work in progress and examples from the last CD with Martina here: http://harismetaxa.blogspot.com/2010/01/work-in-progress-cd-of-my-poems-in-5.html

A poem written and read in 5 languages here:
http://harismetaxa.blogspot.com/2009/12/ich-sah-nicht-den-eida.html
and another quite atmospheric one: http://harismetaxa.blogspot.com/2009/12/lazarus-walking.html


CREDITS AND THANKS: Without the support of friends, fellow artists and collaborators of similar cultural persuasions and projects I would have done very little.
Thank you all from my heart for the past and the present and especially the WICCAN members for the future. 
The WICCAN members are all active, each one in his/hers field of action, to make this international cultural adventure of creativity and sharing a reality...
THIS IS A COLLECTIVE ADVENTURE, I AM JUST THE MORE VISIBLE PART FOR THE MOMENT, JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG...