Melia Efstratis Chendo
Signs of Material, 2025
Signs of Material is an audiovisual installation that experiments with the body as spectacle in public space. Selected for exhibition in The Gallatin Galleries Senior BA show (2025), Falling into Form, Chendo’s senior thesis project reproduces their Plastic gesture in layers of texturized video, audio, and material. The installation is comprised of two video channels projected directly onto the surface of the gallery wall and a suspended plexiglass screen wrapped in plastic. The video content includes superimposed footage from Chendo’s first Plastic performances in New York (2024-2025) and delayed, incoherent, auto-generated text captions. The performer’s image and quiet dialogue with each camera person are embedded in an audiovisual cacaphony of sound, archival footage, and Saran Wrap.
Plastic was originally recorded as a public performance and video art piece for Lyle Ashton Harris’s Spring 2024 course “Interdisciplinary Proj: Photo/Video, Performance/Installation” at NYU Steinhardt’s studio art program. Upon returning to the gesture in 2025, Chendo performed Plastic every day of spring midterms week at NYU. The process involved walking from their apartment to class, and from class to the bar; participating in seminar discussions; ordering tea at the cafe; and showing up to crits, silently, accompanied by an unwelcome friend with a camera.
Installation View
Photos courtesy of Gallatin Galleries
Video stills
Film assistance from Henry Chendo, Natalie Cohen, Amy John-Terry, and Michelle Pfeifer