Only Passing Through — Constantinos Gallis

Constantinos Gallis
Cambridge, MA & Athens, GR

Hello, my name is Constantinos, & I am a Greek-Swiss artist, musician & student based in Cambridge, MA & Athens, GR. I am currently a dual degree student at MIT, pursuing a Master in City Planning & a Master of Architecture, & I hold a BA in Urban Studies from Stanford University, where I graduated with departmental honors & distinction. I am curious about the effects of urban change on the natural environment & society, I have explored my interests through academic research, teaching, large scale installations, performances, audio-visual investigations, & practical work experience at firms in Athens. GR, New York, NY & London, GB.

cgallis@mit.edu Instagram

I am one half of Oo-PS, a collaborative research & design practice working across scales to produce narrative-driven artwork, writing, music & objects as ways of anticipating sets of future socio-environmental challenges & designing theoretical methods to meet them.

Oo-PS

I write, record, produce & occasionally perform music under the alias Shrinking Violet, a project that modulates between ambient, dreampop & indie rock in an effort to create music about memory, distance & uncertainty.

Shrinking Violet

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Only Passing ThroughCambridge, MA
Chapel & Meditative Path

Over the course of several weeks, I designed an interfaith chapel at one of three thresholds on the MIT campus. Rather taking up space on the end of the Broad Canal, this project proposes occupying the canal itself.

By intentionally staying out of the way from passersby, the discretized chapel which is broken into a series of rooms & corridors interlaced by a snaking boardwalk, disintegrates any sense of oppressive monumentality, instead privileging the interaction between spaces.

Reflecting on the potency of sacred sites in the Cycladic islands, I realized that what moved me & many others was the intentional procession to a site, rather than the site itself. Unlike the chapels on barren island hills, the walk towards them is a truly sacred yet agnostic experience. In creating a walkway & an exploded chapel, the journey is emphasized & the idea of a single sacred space is dissolved. Alongside designing distinct interiors for each room on the path, I wrote & recorded corresponding songs for each mass to sonically capture & predict the character of each space. Writing the songs greatly informed the program, finish & feel of the interiors.