Yiannis Colakides

The Silent Revolution

In this talk, Colakides will discuss the role micro-cultural NGOs play to promote radical ideas by artists and to instigate institutional change. Through public engagement, cultural spaces can entertain, or inform, or more importantly bring internationally sourced development goals, which they adapt to local societal values.

As such NGOs work at the intersection of culture, governance, and social transformation. Their deep understanding of their locality, and their bottom-up ethos, can facilitate change which is both effective and sustainable. In high-context cultures (Edward T. Hall, Beyond Culture, 1976) where meaning is conveyed implicitly, relying heavily on context, nonverbal cues, shared experiences, and relationships rather than explicit verbal expression, indirect communication prevails, AND NGOs build trust through relationship-building rather than formal directives.

Biography

Yiannis Colakides is an architect, and cultural organiser. He co-founded the non-profit NGO NeMe  with Helene Black. He is an active curator and editor in the fields of digital art and technology. 

Among other books, he co-edited the book State Machines: Reflections and Actions at the Edge of Digital Citizenship, Finance, and Art (Institute of Network Cultures, 2019) and Frankenstein Reanimated: Creation & Technology in the 21st Century (Torque editions, 2022). 

He serves as a peer reviewer for Leonardo Abstracts Service and Leonardo Journal and has curated exhibitions that explored themes of post-democracy, political art, and technological critique.