Matters of Concern emerges from the urban waste streams of Athens and unfolds as a sculptural and archival installation with a performative workshop activation. The project traces the full chain of labor behind ceramic production, foregrounding acts that often remain invisible: collecting, sorting, grinding, measuring, mixing, testing, and firing. Laboratory equipment and cooking utensils coexist in the space, emphasizing the shared infrastructures of ceramic and culinary transformation.
Food waste, ash, shells, glass, soil, and construction debris are reprocessed into clay bodies and glazes. Materials are approached as active agents that resist, react, fuse, and reform. Ceramic surface formulation becomes a way of reading the city through matter itself. Glaze and food share origin stories, forming a closed-loop system in which recipes mediate between ecological residue and public encounter. Glaze recipes developed from food waste are presented as percentage-based systems, each corresponding to a ceramic tile.
At 1260°C, the kiln reorganizes minerals into a stable surface; at 37°C, the body reorganizes edible matter through metabolism. During a workshop that took place on the first day of Onassis Air Spring Open Days 2026, participants translate glaze ratios into edible surface formulations, maintaining structural proportion across these two systems. What is thermally activated in one becomes metabolically processed in the other.
In a city shaped by intensified food production and consumption, the work reflects on circular materials, hidden labor, and the afterlives of waste. The installation remains accessible throughout the event, while the workshop serves as its temporary activation—proposing not completion, but the relocation of transformation within an ongoing urban metabolism.
Credits: A big thank you to Ekiben Kitchen and chef Nikos , Argoura Kitchen and Chef Nikos, Mellem. Athens team and Wine is Fine. Athens team for collecting, sorting, storing, contemplating and providing me with the leftovers from their own waste streams. A big thank you to Daphne Leon , a partner in crime for donating equipment, her own waste materials along with patience and space to experiment and grow.
This project took place during the Onassis AiR Extended Research Residencies program for 2025/26.
Photographs : Margarita Nikitaki
images & texts - Chryssa Kotoula |