ALEXANDROS
BARBAYIANIS

Documentation: Photos, Sketches & Prototypes Summary What is this project? Textile Détournement and Public Space uses guerrilla yarn bombing as a form of resistance art that challenges institutional gatekeeping in public creative expression. The project transforms spectators into co-creators through unauthorized fabric interventions in NYC public spaces. Working at Material for the Arts sourcing donated institutional materials creates a détournement loop where organizational

Project Draft Over the past weeks ive been conducting unauthorized fabric interventions across Astoria Park and surrounding neighborhoods. The interventions function as research by making, testing how public space polices creative expression through both hard arrangements like park rules and soft arrangements like community expectations about what belongs. Interventions completed: Stop sign wrapped 12 inches in red fabric Metal fence barriers woven with donated bra straps Mul

Ideas, Arrangements, Effects Reading Response Part 1: Annotated Space Over the weekend I went to Hallett Nature Sanctuary in Central Park to conduct a live prototype session away from tourist areas. I covered a large piece of deadwood in saturated red fabric with neon green accents. Fall colors appear naturally in the woods this time of year but I chose the most saturated versions to highlight that relationship between natural and synthetic color. When I left I accidentally c

Three Quotes from Hito Steyerl's "On Games" You will have to imitate a not yet existent reality and game it into being. This is how playing grows into acting. It seems that automation didn't necessarily free people from labour. Instead, it turned some workers into robots. Have algorithms and data-farming short-circuited relations between computers, games and the economy, to create a world of involuntary play—and can critical art practice suggest ways to turn the tables? Refle

The Accidental Ritual My daily practice wasn't planned... it emerged organically during Project 1's production phase as a way to blow off steam. I tend to overthink everything, and freestyling became my antidote: a practice that forces me to literally go with the flow. No scripts, no plans, just pure spontaneity. The ritual, when it exists, is simple: I need to get out of my head. Sometimes that means freestyling about pooping (which I find hilarious), other times it's whatev

What I Made and What It Does My guide ended up being a satirical video on how to engage with TikTok content without falling into the rabbit hole. Except it's a guide that fails. The user falls anyway. I removed the narrator voiceover and when I presented via Zoom I narrated through the chat instead typing instructions as the simulated TikTok scroll played. The chat narration disappeared the deeper the user got until they were already too far gone watching some conspiracy theo

Presentation Slides Project 1 Final Reflections im not sure how i got here honestly looking back at all the research i did the systems mapping the interviews all those blog posts about weather balloons and metaphors none of it feels connected to what i actually made. i kept researching and researching but when it came time to make something i pivoted hard into this TikTok fever dream that doesn't really feel like a guide at all. i cut the narration because it felt out of plac

what even is this project?? My guide is actually a satirical tutorial on how to consume TikTok content, using weather balloons as the subject. It starts legitimately - you're watching real DIY videos, step-by-step guides on weather balloon chasing (people who literally track and chase balloons after they start parachuting back to earth), how-tos on tracking weather balloon data from meteorologists. Actual useful information from actual hobbyists and scientists. But as the nar

Metaphors We Live By - The Highlights Lakoff and Johnson's main argument: metaphors aren't just poetic language, they structure how we think and act. This clicked for me because I've been trying to figure out why weather balloons mean such different things to different people. Science says: THE ATMOSPHERE IS A CONTAINER FOR DATA Balloons go up, collect info, come down. Clean and neutral. This hides the pollution, the geopolitics, all the messy reality. Conspiracy says: THE SK

Reflections on Figures in Air Okay so I'll be real - this Micah Silver text is dense as hell, but once I started actually engaging with it instead of just skimming, some parts really clicked with my weather balloon research. Three quotes that stuck with me: "Audio are always in a productive and ephemeral reciprocity with a social architecture inhabiting it, even if we are alone." This got me thinking about how weather balloons exist in this weird liminal space - they're coll

Okay so I’ve been diving into weather balloons for Project 1, and honestly, the more I look into it, the more complicated it gets — which I guess is the whole point of systems thinking, right? The GMO Thing Reading that Easterbrook article about the GMO wheat protest was wild because like… everyone was right from their own perspective — which is kinda messed up when you think about it. If I had to pick which system I vibed with most, I’d say System 8 — sustainable agricultur

Responding to Emergent Strategy Prompts Q: In your view, what is the function of humans in the universe? I dont see humans as healers or translators the way Adrienne Maree Brown imagines. Humans feel more like parasites but not the kind that help keep balance. We create chaos then try to organize it and in the process make more chaos. We cut into ecosystems draw borders build walls and call it progress. Other parasites usually serve some role in keeping things steady but we