A Thousand Ithacas

The idea for this artwork was conceived while being an artist in residency at Periplus art residency in Ithaca during the summer of 2020.

I was invited to reflect on the notion of journey, the symbolism of Ithaca and the epic poem of Odyssey by Homer and in this context what I found most inspiring were the last two lines of C.P. Cavafy’s poem Ithaca “…Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you’ll have understood by then what these Ithacas mean.”

Focusing on this aspect of a journey, be it a journey in space, in time or even an inner one, that of the personal purpose, goal or destination I intended to build a metafor by creating non-existent islands.

Images and a video were created by StyleGAN2 (generative adversarial network) after beeing fed by images of islands.

Installation proposal for A Thousand Ithacas by Maria Mavropoulou, showing ten island photographs beside a monitor displaying a looping StyleGAN2 video of non-existent islands.

Installation proposal, 10 printed photographs 30cm x 20 cm, a monitor displaying the generated video, duration 60” in loop.

Ithaca

BY C. P. CAVAFY

As you set out for Ithaca hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops, angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops, wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when, with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaca won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithacas mean.


Images from my archive used to train the algorithm.

Archive photograph used to train the algorithm for A Thousand Ithacas, showing two hazy island silhouettes almost disappearing into a pale blue sea and sky.
Archive training photograph for A Thousand Ithacas, showing an elongated mountainous island beneath a bright clouded sky and surrounded by a dark green sea.
Archive training photograph for A Thousand Ithacas, showing a dark mountainous island emerging from a calm gray-blue sea in low, misty light.
Archive training photograph for A Thousand Ithacas, showing a small rocky islet isolated within a calm, pale sea beneath a lightly clouded sky.
Archive training photograph for A Thousand Ithacas, showing several distant islands fading into blue atmospheric haze across the sea.
Archive training photograph for A Thousand Ithacas, showing a low island silhouetted against sunlight sparkling intensely across the dark sea.
Archive training photograph for A Thousand Ithacas, showing an elongated island surrounded by a luminous blue sea beneath a clear sky.
Archive training photograph for A Thousand Ithacas, showing a distant island barely visible through dusky pink and gray atmospheric haze.
Archive training photograph for A Thousand Ithacas, showing two small rocky islets rising from a vivid deep-blue sea beneath a clear sky.
Archive training photograph for A Thousand Ithacas, showing a long, low rocky island extending across the horizon of a deep-blue sea.
Archive training photograph for A Thousand Ithacas, showing a sharply peaked island silhouetted above sunlight glittering across the water.
Archive training photograph for A Thousand Ithacas, showing a low island beneath the setting sun and a softly illuminated orange-gray sky.
 

Images generated by the algorithm.

StyleGAN2-generated image from A Thousand Ithacas, showing a non-existent rounded island in a silvery sea beneath a pale sky, evoking an imagined destination.
StyleGAN2-generated image from A Thousand Ithacas, showing a solitary triangular island beyond a dark, moving sea beneath a clear blue sky.
StyleGAN2-generated image from A Thousand Ithacas, showing a low imaginary island beneath dark, blurred clouds and bands of silvery water.
StyleGAN2-generated image from A Thousand Ithacas, showing a long, jagged non-existent island surrounded by a luminous sea at golden sunset.
StyleGAN2-generated image from A Thousand Ithacas, showing a large mountainous imaginary island beneath layered clouds and softly illuminated evening light.
StyleGAN2-generated image from A Thousand Ithacas, showing an elongated gray island beneath a heavy stormlike sky and a muted blue sea.
StyleGAN2-generated image from A Thousand Ithacas, showing a small, low island beneath dramatic blue-gray clouds and a wide expanse of calm water.
StyleGAN2-generated image from A Thousand Ithacas, showing a broad, multi-peaked imaginary island emerging from haze across a gray-blue sea.